Bellator 229 and UFC 243 were both this past weekend. Let’s get to the rundown.
Bellator 229
GOOD- Keri Taylor Melendez vs. Mandy Polk
Melendez dished out some major punishment to Polk with her striking. She landed a lot of elbows and knees, though Polk showed good toughness to withstand all that and keep going. Melendez won the decision. Good win for Melendez.
GOOD- Tony Johnson stops Joe Schilling
There was some pretty good back and forth striking between these two. Schilling landed some strong legkicks but Johnson fought through and got the stoppage win just over two minutes into the third round. Good win for Johnson.
GOOD- Goiti Yamauchi submits Saad Awad
Awad hurt Yamauchi with a hard right hand then took him down. However, Yamauchi transitioned quickly into an armbar and got the submission win. Good win for Yamauchi.
GOOD/BAD- Lorenz Larkin vs. Andrey Koreshkov
There were too many dull moments to truly call this a good fight but there was also some exciting moments and I appreciated the efforts of both men so I hedged my grade on it. Koreshkov took the first round while Lorenz dominated the second round with his striking. The third round was a lot closer and that’s what decided things. Two of the judges scored the fight 29-28 for Larkin and the third judge scored it 29-28 for Koreshkov so Larkin won the split decision. Nice win for Larkin.
UFC 243
GOOD- Yorgan De Castro stops Justin Tafa
De Castro blasted Tafa with a huge right counter that knocked him out and ended the fight a little over two minutes into the first round.
GOOD/BAD- Dhiego Lima vs. Luke Jumeau
This fight was solid, it was all right, but it just was kind of there. Lima won by split decision. I thought Jumeau had some good moments but not enough to actually get the fight judged his way. Maybe I overlooked something? Good win for Lima.
GOOD- Serghei Spivak submits Tai Tuivasa
Spivak landed seven takedowns in this fight. He wore Tuivasa down and then locked in a choke to get the submission win. Big win for Spivak.
GOOD- Dan Hooker vs. Al Iaquinta
Hooked just dominated this fight. He controlled Iaquinta with his grappling, takedown defense, and striking. Iaquinta never seemed to be in this fight, he never got going. On the other side, Hooked landed several big shots, stuffed Iaquinta’s takedowns, and kept the fight wherever he wanted. It was a great performance by Hooker. Good win for him.
GOOD- Israel Adesanya stops Robert Whittaker
Adesanya won the UFC Middleweight Championship with this win. Whittaker fought very recklessly here. He kept charging forward and was just winging punches. It started getting to the point where you were just expecting Adesanya to drop him with a big counter punch. And that’s what happened about three and a half minutes into the second round. It was certainly exciting and I appreciate Whittaker wanting to fight aggressively but he might have gone too far here.
Adesanya looked great here, both during the fight and after. He called out Paulo Costa after the win so it seems that will be his first title defense. This is probably his coming out party but we’ll have to wait to see what happens. This was a huge win for Adesanya in Australia, not quite his (and Whittaker’s) home country of New Zealand, but close. This was a great way to end a good card.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank
Bellator 229 and UFC 243 Full Results
UFC 243 LIVE REPORT: Real-time results and analysis of Whittaker-Adesanya
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