<b>By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist</b>
Bellator 297 and UFC: Fight Night: Vettori vs. Cannonier were this
past weekend and featured two title fights on Bellator’s side. Who won
and who lost? Let’s get to the rundown.
<i>Bellator</i>
<b>GOOD/BAD- Daniel James vs. Gokhan Saricam</b>
They fight in close throughout most of the first round. However,
Saricam does get a takedown and lands some good ground-and-pound to
close the first round. The second round starts with Saricam landing
some kicks before getting a takedown. Saricam continues working his
ground-and-pound until the second round ends. The third round begins
with James defending successfully against multiple Saricam takedown
attempts. Saricam does finally get a takedown at the end of the
slow-paced round and the fight ends. Not a lot of action but the
effort at times was good. We go to the judges and Saricam wins to
improve to 9-2 while James drops to 15-7-1 and has his 5 fight winning
streak snapped. Good win for Saricam.
<b>GOOD- Corey Anderson vs. Phil Davis</b>
Anderson gets an early takedown but Davis is right back up and gets a
quick takedown of his own. They throw a few punches before Anderson
gets another takedown to close the first round. The second round
starts with a lot of feinting before they start landing some strikes.
They fight in the clinch for a bit before the second round ends. The
third round begins with them exchanging strikes before Anderson gets a
takedown but Davis is quickly back up. They exchange more strikes
until the third round ends. This was a close fight. We go to the
judges and Anderson wins the Split Decision to improve to 17-6 with 1
No Contest while Davis drops to 24-7 with 1 No Contest. Good win for
Anderson.
<b>GOOD- Sergio Pettis vs. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire</b>
Pettis was defending his Bellator Bantamweight Championship here
against the Bellator Featherweight Champion Freire. They start off
exchanging some hard strikes. Pitbull gets a takedown but Pettis is
able to get up quickly and they go back to exchanging strikes as the
first round ends. The second round begins with some big left hands
landing for both men. Pitbull is landing some heavy strikes but Pettis
rips into him with a good combination. Pettis nails a big kick that
gets Pitbull retreating but the second round ends before he can
capitalize. The third round opens with a Pitbull takedown attempt but
Pettis stuffs it. Pettis is starting to light up Pitbull but Pitbull
fires back with a takedown to close the third round. The fourth round
sees them start slowly as neither man wants to make a mistake in such
a close fight. Not a ton happens but both fighters do land some good
strikes. The fifth round starts with Pettis showing that he still has
great quickness this late in the fight. Pitbull is fighting hard and
showing good toughness but Pettis is just too good here. The round and
fight ends so we go to the judges. Pettis wins the decision to retain
his title and improve to 23-5 and has won 6 straight fights while
Pitbull drops to 35-6 and has his 3 fight winning streak snapped. Good
win for Pettis.
<b>GOOD- Vadim Nemkov vs. Yoel Romero</b>
Nemkov was defending his Bellator Light Heavyweight Championship here.
Nemkov starts with some kicks before Romero fires back with his own.
Nemkov is tearing into Romero with some heavy strikes before Romero
responds with a hard leg kick before the first round ends. The second
round opens with Nemkov working the body before going upstairs as
well. Romero isn’t looking good with his striking but his toughness is
going to make it nearly impossible to finish him. Nemkov continues to
open up on Romero until the second round ends. The third round begins
with Romero attacking the body. However, Nemkov fires back and rocks
Romero. Somehow, Romero survives and ends up blasting Nemkov with a
huge counter that drops him. The third round ends with Nemkov doing
enough to survive. The fourth round sees Nemkov ripping into Romero,
who’s trying to dance around and taunt Nemkov. Romero keeps taunting
but he’s getting beat the hell up. Romero needs a finish as we head
into the final round. The fifth round starts with Romero landing a lot
more and doing some good damage to Nemkov. Now Nemkov has to survive.
Romero gets a takedown but Nemkov avoids most of the damage and the
round and fight ends. We go to the judges and Nemkov wins the decision
to retain his title and improve to 17-2 with 1 No Contest while Romero
drops to 15-7. Good win for Nemkov.
<i>UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs. Cannonier</i>
<b>GOOD- Nicolas Dalby vs. Muslim Salikhov</b>
They exchange kicks early before mixing in some punches. Dalby
connects with a head kick that staggers Salikhov, prompting Salikhov
to take Dalby down. He gets right back up, though, and the first
round ends. The second round starts with some fighting in the clinch
before they exchange takedowns. They grapple for a bit before
separating and striking a bit before the second round ends. The third
round begins with more striking exchanges. They start off attacking
the head but then go after the body as well. Dalby pulls away with
some strong elbows and the fight ends. We go to the judges and Dalby
wins the decision to improve to 22-4-1 with 2 No Contests and has won
3 straight fights while Salikhov drops to 19-4. Good win for Dalby.
<b>GOOD- Manuel Torres stops Nikolas Motta</b>
They start fast, as Motta hits Torres with a combination then a left
hook. Torres fires back, though, and crushes Motta with a hard elbow
that ends the fight not quite two minutes into the first round. Torres
improves to 14-2 and has won 5 straight fights while Motta drops to
13-5. Good win for Torres.
<b>GOOD- Pat Sabatini submits Lucas Almeida</b>
Sabatini gets an early takedown and goes to work, softening Almeida up
with some light ground-and-pound early before he moves to mount and
opens up with some huge elbows. He tries an armbar but it’s not there
so he goes back to the elbows before the first round ends. The second
round starts off the same, as Sabatini gets the fight to the ground
and moves to an arm triangle choke that forces Almeida to tap not
quite two minutes into the second round. Sabatini improves to 18-4
while Almeida drops to 14-2. Good win for Sabatini.
<b>GOOD- Armen Petrosyan vs. Christian Leroy Duncan</b>
They trade kicks early before mixing in punches. Duncan is using some
unorthodox movements and striking and having success, though Petrosyan
seems to be landing a bit more as the first round ends. The second
round starts with more good striking exchanges. Petrosyan is landing
some good kicks, though Duncan is connecting with some good kicks of
his own. The third round begins with more kicks being traded. They
trade elbows as well before Petrosyan gets a takedown. Duncan
eventually stands but it’s too late and the third round and fight
ends. We go to the judges and Petrosyan wins the decision to improve
to 9-2 while Duncan drops to 8-1 and loses his first fight after
starting his professional career with 8 straight wins. Good win for
Petrosyan.
<b>GOOD- Arman Tsarukyan stops Joaquim Silva</b>
Tsarukyan gets an early takedown and they spend the majority of the
first round grappling. The second round starts with Tsarukyan tearing
into Silva with elbows and kicks. Silva fights back, though, and
wobbles Tsarukyan with a big left hook that prompts Tsarukyan to take
him down. They grapple for the rest of the second round. The third
round opens with Tsarukyan landing some heavy kicks before getting
another takedown. Silva fights to his feet but gets taken back down.
Tsarukyan batters Silva with ground-and-pound and forces the referee
to jump in to stop the fight about three and a half minutes into the
third round. Tsarukyan improves to 20-3 while Silva drops to 12-4.
Good win for Tsarukyan.
<b>GOOD- Marvin Vettori vs. Jared Cannonier</b>
They’re exchanging some big strikes early. Vettori is hurting
Cannonier, mixing up his punches and kicks well. The second round
starts with Cannonier getting the better of the striking. Cannonier is
blasting Vettori with multiple huge punches but Vettori is taking
them. He just keeps eating these brutal punches. Cannonier is
unloading on him but Vettori survives somehow and the second round
ends. The third round opens with some good striking exchanges. Vettori
is landing some nice strikes of his own but Cannonier is landing more
heavy punches before getting a takedown. Vettori is quickly back up
and somehow gets a takedown of his own. They’re right back up and
trading more before the third round ends. The fourth round begins with
more striking exchanges before Cannonier gets another takedown. He
can’t keep him down, though, and they go back to exchanging. The fifth
round starts with Cannonier opening another can on Vettori. Cannonier
is just smashing Vettori over and over with these brutal and stiff
punches. However, Vettori is a horror movie villain, you can’t stop
him. Big elbows lead to another Cannonier takedown, which leads to
even more huge elbows but Vettori can’t be stopped and gets up.
Cannonier gets another takedown and the fifth round and fight is over.
It’s unbelievable how Vettori kept coming. Holy hell. We go to the
judges and Cannonier wins the decision, breaking the record for the
most significant strikes landed in a bout in UFC middleweight history
with 241 significant strikes. That’s the 4th-most significant strikes
landed in a bout in UFC history overall. Cannonier improves to 17-6
while Vettori drops to 19-7-1. Good win for Cannonier.
My new fantasy book is out. It’s called <a
href=https://books2read.com/u/bOn7QK/>Kingdom of Zarias: A Fight For
Survival</a>. It’s the third book in my epic fantasy Kingdom of Zarias
series and follows the adventures of the Summers siblings as they
fight to defend the world from an evil villain named Galren. This book
also introduces lots of other characters as the scope of the world
grows. There’s lots of action, magic, and monsters in the Kingdom of
Zarias. It’s like a tabletop game in novel form. It’s on Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, and many other places. If you’re interested, I would
greatly appreciate it if you would check it out and support me. Also,
here’s the link to my new Compendium book about the Kingdom of Zarias
series- <a href=https://books2read.com/u/bw1MK9/>KoZ Compendium</a>
Thank you very much, have a good day.
<i>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.</i>
Leave a Reply