By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
Bellator 269 and UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs. Costa were last night.
Bellator 269
GOOD- Anatoly Tokov vs. Sharaf Davlatmurodov
Tokov drops Davlatmurodov in the first round but nothing comes of it.
They trade some strikes before Tokov gets a guillotine but he can’t
finish it. The second round sees them start striking before Tokov gets
a takedown but nothing comes of it. They trade more strikes, with
Tokov getting the advantage. The third round starts with more striking
and Tokov gets the upper hand there. It goes to decision and Tokov
wins by split decision. A solid fight. Nothing great but a good win
for Tokov.
GOOD- Usman Nurmagomedov submits Patrik Pietila
Nurmagomedov got an early takedown and started working his
ground-and-pound. Nurmagomedov advanced to mount and took Pietila’s
back as he locked in a rear-naked choke and got the tap. Good win for
Nurmagomedov.
GOOD/BAD- Said Sowma beats Vitaly Minakov by TKO (Injury)
They traded some big strikes in the first round. Sowma got dropped as
Minakov seemed to be getting into a rhythm. Sowma tore up Minakov’s
leg with some good kicks in the second round. Minakov’s finger was
dislocated in the third round and the fight was called. It’s a finger,
you don’t stop a fight for that if the fighter wants to keep going.
Regardless, Sowma gets the stoppage win, good win for him.
GOOD- Fedor Emelianenko stops Timothy Johnson
The end came when Fedor ducked under a Johnson hook and popped him
with a left hook of his own. Then, Fedor plastered Johnson with a
right hook that knocked him out at 1:46 in the first round. Good win
for Fedor. He might be old but he’s still good enough to do that and
look awesome. I loved it.
UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs. Costa
GOOD- Nicolae Negumereanu stops Ike Villanueva
They were trading bombs early in the first until Negumereanu caught
Villanueva and pounced on him to get the finish. Good win for
Negumereanu.
GOOD- Dwight Grant vs. Francisco Trinaldo
This was a solid fight but nothing great. Trinaldo got warned for the
way he was sticking his fingers out. He even got a point deducted in
the third round for an eye poke. Good on the referee for actually
doing that after warning him earlier. Too many refs let that crap go
by. It didn’t cost Trinaldo the fight but he had to settle for a split
decision victory. Good win for Trinaldo, let’s hope he quits sticking
his fingers out.
GOOD- Alex Caceres submits Seungwoo Choi
Choi dropped Caceres and tried to finish him but ended up hitting him
with an illegal knee. He got a point deducted for that so the first
round was a draw. The second round saw Caceres jump on Choi’s back
after a few minutes of striking exchanges and he locked in the
rear-naked choke for the submission. Good win for Caceres.
BAD/GOOD- Jessica Rose-Clark vs. Joselyne Edwards
Clark got a couple of takedowns in the first round but that’s about
it. She got a couple more takedowns in the rest of the fight but that
was it. There was no real offense. When Clark was on top she didn’t do
anything. This fight was pretty boring. Clark won the decision but
this was a forgettable fight. Still, though, good win for Clark.
Sometimes you got to win ugly. It’s not fun to watch but it’s
effective.
GOOD/BAD- Grant Dawson vs. Ricky Glenn
Dawson got a takedown and worked some ground-and-pound in the first
round. After that, it was all downhill. Dawson got a few more
takedowns but didn’t do much with them. This fight was slightly better
than the previous one but only just. It was ruled a draw.
GOOD- Paulo Costa vs. Marvin Vettori
Lots of striking in the first round, with Vettori getting the better
of it. The second round saw more striking from these two, with Costa
getting the better of it this time. Costa landed some huge shots.
However, Costa got a point deducted for an eyepoke so the round was a
draw. The third round saw more big shots landed and absorbed. Good
toughness on display here. They continued trading big shots in the
fourth round, apparently driven by hate. The fifth round saw Costa
firing back as Vettori began to fade. He couldn’t finish him, though,
and Vettori was awarded the judge’s decision. This was a good fight
and good win for Vettori.
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This is the first in my Brotherhood of the Streets series. It’s on
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check it out and support me. Here’s the link to my book on Amazon- My Book I’ve also
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Fight to Save the World. Thank you very much, have a good day.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.
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