10/8/23: Usman Nurmagomedov Defends Lightweight Belt At Bellator 300
Results from Bellator's milestone event.
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Usman Nurmagomedov Defends Bellator Lightweight Championship In Milestone Event Main Event
Usman Nurmagomedov defended his Bellator Lightweight Championship and placed himself in the finals of the promotion’s ongoing lightweight grand prix on Saturday night, shutting out Brent Primus at the promotion’s milestone 300th numbered event.
Nurmagomedov’s unanimous decision win headlined Bellator 300 from the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California, USA.
The stand-up striking skills of Nurmagomedov put him in the win column on Saturday night. Primus had no answer for his stand-up, as Nurmagomedov relentlessly pressured and walked him down for the 25 minutes that the fight took place.
Nurmagomedov has now defended his belt twice since taking it off Patrickyt Pitbull in November of last year. He defended his belt in the opening round of the lightweight grand prix in March, submitting Benson Henderson in the first round with a rear naked choke.
Primus, a fighter who has spent a decade in Bellator and at one point was a champion at lightweight, was coming off a May victory against French contender Mansour Barnaoui.
The other half of the lightweight grand prix will take place at Bellator 301 on November 17th. Patricky Pitbull and Alexander Shabliy will compete at that event from the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois.
Cris Cyborg Retains Flyweight Title With Quick Finish Over Cat Zingano
Cris Cyborg’s dominance as Bellator Featherweight Champion continued in Saturday night’s co-main event, stopping Cat Zingano in the first round to defend her title for the fifth time.
Cyborg stuffed a takedown of Zingano, dumping her to the ground in the process. She then immediately started to throw hammerfist punches, continuing with this quick flurry of shots until the fight was stopped by referee Frank Trigg.
The featherweight division has been ruled by Cyborg since she entered the promotion in early 2020, dethroning previous longtime champ Julia Budd. The former UFC titleholder has stopped five of her six opponents during her Bellator run.
After her win on Saturday, Cyborg did a face-off with featherweight Leah McCourt, who picked up a victory over Sara McMann on the Bellator 300 prelims.
Zingano, a fellow former UFC fighter, was given a title shot after accumulating four consecutive wins in Bellator from 2020 to 2023, including a victory over the aforementioned McCourt.
Liz Carmouche Stops Former Champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane To Defend Flyweight Belt For Third Time
Liz Carmouche opened the card with a successful flyweight title outing against Bellator’s first-ever champion in the weight class, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane.
Carmouche targeted the legs of Macfarlane throughout their five-round stand-up fight, with those strikes eventually adding up. A minute into the final round, a leg kick sent an audibly hurt Macfarlane to the canvas, putting an end to the fight.
Carmouche has now defended her Bellator Flyweight Championship three times since first earning it in 2022. Her previous win this year was a fourth-round submission victory over DeAnna Bennett.
Macfarlane became Bellator’s inaugural flyweight champion in 2017, defeating Emily Ducote. She defended her belt four times from 2018 to 2019, eventually dropping the belt to Juliana Velasquez in 2020.
Carmouche gave credit to Macfarlane’s legacy in Bellator after the fight.
“If it wasn’t for Ilima, I wouldn’t be here,” Carmouche said in her post-fight interview. “Nobody else would.”
Carmouche mentioned afterward that she feels Kana Watanabe — a Bellator flyweight she beat in 35 seconds two years ago — has earned her chance at a rematch.
Even if Macfarlane were to come up successful in her fight on Friday, she wouldn’t become a two-time champion. This was due to her weight miss on Friday, coming in one-and-a-half pounds over the championship limit.
Postlims (Youtube)
Bout 16: Jackie Cataline def. Lorrany Santos via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 15: Dmytrii Hrytsenko def. Justin Montalvo via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 14: Bryce Meredith def. Miguel Peimbert via Decision, Unanimous
Main Card (10:00PM EDT / 7:00PM PDT) (Showtime)
Bout 13:
Bout 12: Cris Cyborg def. Cat Zingano via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 4:01) (Bellator Featherweight Championship)
Bout 11: Liz Carmouche def. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (RD 5, 0:17) (Bellator Flyweight Championship)
Preliminary Card (6:30PM EDT / 3:30PM PDT) (Youtube)
Bout 10: Bobby Seronio III def. Alberto Garcia via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 9: Leah McCourt def. Sara McMann via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 4:30)
Bout 8: Sergio Cossio def. Jesse Roberts via Submission, Triangle Choke (RD 3, 4:05)
Bout 7: Kai Kamaka III def. Henry Corrales via Decision, Split
Bout 6: Slim Trabelsi def. Davion Franklin via TKO, Injury (RD 1, 3:09)
Bout 5: Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov def. Maciej Rozanski via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 4: Mukhamed Berkhamov def. Herman Terrado via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 3: Grant Neal def. Romero Cotton via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 2: Jena Bishop def. Ilara Joanne via Submission, Armbar (RD 1, 2:45)
Bout 1: Josh Hokit def. Spencer Smith via Submission, Head and Arm Choke (RD 3, 3:48)
Bobby Green Puts Away Grant Dawson In Only 33 Seconds
Bobby Green put a sudden end to Grant Dawson’s undefeated UFC run on Saturday night, stopping the lightweight contender in under a minute in a main event bout.
Green floored Dawson with a straight left in the opening minute of their fight. He then landed a series of hammerfist punches on the ground, continuing with this until the referee put an end to the contest.
Green’s victory — his first in a UFC main event spot — took place at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Dawson came into this weekend on a roll. He had yet to lose in the UFC cage through nine appearances from 2019 to 2023. His previous fight was a July unanimous decision victory over Damir Ismagulov, which was his third consecutive victory.
Green, a UFC veteran of more than a decade, was riding the momentum of an arm triangle choke submission victory against Tony Ferguson from July. After his win, he called for a fight in December, preferably in Las Vegas, where he just bought a house.
Earlier in the night, “Dana White’s Contender Series” standout Joe Pyfer scored his third UFC victory, submitting Abdul Razak Alhassan with an arm triangle choke. Also, Joaquin Buckley picked up his second win of the year, overcoming Alex Morono on scorecards.
Here are the quick results:
Main Card (7:00PM EDT / 4:00PM PDT) (ESPN+)
Bout 10: Bobby Green def. Grant Dawson via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 0:33)
Bout 9: Joe Pyfer def. Abdul Razak Alhassan via Submission, Arm Triangle Choke (RD 2, 2:05)
Bout 8: Joaquin Buckley def. Alex Morono via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 7: Drew Dober def. Ricky Glenn via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 2:36)
Bout 6: Bill Algeo def. Alexander Hernandez via Decision, Unanimous
Preliminary Card (4:00PM EDT / 1:00PM PDT) (ESPN+)
Bout 5: Karolina Kowalkiewicz def. Diana Belbita via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 4: Nate Maness def. Mateus Mendonca via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 4:40)
Bout 3: Vanessa Demopoulos def. Kanako Murata via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 2: Aoriqileng def. Johnny Munoz Jr. via Decision, Unanimous
Bout 1: JJ Aldrich def. Montana De La Rosa via Decision, Unanimous
Quick Notes On: UFC, Cage Warriors, CFFC & KSW
Bantamweights Marcus McGhee and Gaston Golanos will meet at UFC’s January 13th event, per Peruvian MMA. McGhee will be riding the momentum of a strong 2023, where he scored three finish wins, including two in the UFC cage. Bolanos won in his return to the UFC last April, beating Aaron Phillips on scorecards. This fight was first booked for August but didn’t come to fruition upon the first attempt.
Appearing for the first time since winning The Ultimate Fighter for the second time, Brad Katona will face Garrett Armfield in a bantamweight match on January 20th, as first reported by Marcel Dorff. Armfield is coming off his first UFC victory, a first-round finish over Toshiomi Kazama.
A title fight has joined the November 25th Cage Warriors card from Newcastle. Aiming to defend his Cage Warriors Middleweight Championship for the second time within a year, Mick Stanton will face Dario Bellandi. The title shot is being given to Bellandi after four consecutive wins in the promotion, with three of those coming via finish. Also announced for the card is a bantamweight fight between Aidan Stephen and Daan Duijs.
A few changes have been made to next week’s CFFC card. A clash between two undefeated middleweights — Isaiah Sackey-El and Thomas Lane — is out of the lineup. Bouts between amateur middleweights Blandino Olivero and Bill Lewis, and a flyweight amateur bout between Elijah Garcia and Devin Flores are now in the lineup.
Middleweights Krystian Bielski and Andi Vrtacic have been matched for KSW 88 on November 11th.