Patricio Pitbull is still the undisputed king of the Bellator featherweight division.
Pitbull (32-4) faced Emmanuel Sanchez (20-5) for a second time, short-circuiting his rival in the Bellator 255 main event on Friday and holding on to a guillotine choke, leaving Sanchez unconscious at the 3:35 mark of the first round. . With the win, Pitbull scored his fifth consecutive successful defense of the Bellator Featherweight Championship.
The end comes after Pitbull began to increase the pace in a methodological case up to that point. He catches Sanchez with a combination and then again with a right hook that has an advancing Sanchez out of balance. When he saw an opening, the champion immediately jumped to a guillotine and brought Sanchez with him to the mat. Sanchez did not respond when referee Todd Anderson went to look at one of his arms and waved the match.
Pitbull now scored two wins over Sanchez. He defeated Sanchez by the unanimous decision to successfully defend his title in Bellator 209 in November 2018.
Friday’s main event also served as the semifinals of the Bellator Featherweight World Prize. Pitbull now advance to the finals to face unbeaten AJ McKee (17-0). The winner of the tournament earns the featherweight championship and a prize of $ 1,000,000.
The two finalists faced off in the cage after Pitbull won.
Jason Jackson (14-4) scored his fourth consecutive victory in a bizarre encounter against Neiman Gracie (10-2), who saw Jackson experience early adversity when he scraped his left eye and face against the cage. defense of a removal. The action was uneven from there, with Jackson knocking out Gracie for most of the fight and defending the removal.
Gracie threatened with a submission in the first round when he took Jackson’s back, but Jackson escaped bad positions on several occasions and finished the first round in the top position. In rounds two and three, Jackson defended well against Gracie’s attempts to take offense from the bottom, leading to some inconvenient substitutions.
Another glance – this time at Jackson’s right eye – brought the action to a halt again, but Jackson was able to continue despite being clearly bothered by the offense. Gracie succeeded with a ride that landed Jackson on top of him, and although Gracie apparently controlled the ground battles, he also could not do much damage or make submissions.
In the end, Jackson won the battle on all three judges’ cards with a 29-28 try.
The resentment match between heavyweights Tyrell Fortune (10-1, 1 NC) and Jack May (11-8, 1 NC) was a one-sided affair as Fortune May dealt on its way to a TKO victory in the first round. Fortune, a Division II wrestling champion, immediately took May down against the fence and went to work with ground-and-pound.
May could not handle Fortune’s leading game, and Fortune moved into position to cause dozens of unanswered strikes when May shot up. Referee Dan Miragliotta finally stepped in to blow the match at 3:16 in the first round.
It was a rematch of Bellator 245 on September 11, 2020, which ended in a non-match when May could not continue again after receiving a low blow from Fortune. May took place on Friday as a short notice to Matt Mitrione, who had earlier withdrawn for unknown reasons.
Undefeated lightweight Usman Nurmagomedov put in a surgical performance in his debut in Bellator and improved to 12-0 with a unanimous decision nod over Mike Hamel (7-5).
Nurmagomedov spent much of the match on the outside, using his accurate shot to pick Hamel apart with stitches and kicks. A match that Hamel has progressed through the course of the match but has been repeatedly beaten with good scores. At the end of the match, a bloodied Hamel was clearly knocked out and the judges gave Nurmagomedov the match with some 30-27 scores and a 29-28 score.
Kana Watanabe (10-0-1) remained unbeaten with a split decided victory over one-time header title challenger Alejandra Lara (9-4). It was Lara who was a step faster out of the gates when she stepped on Watanabe and hit her before being taken down. Lara avoided inflicting major damage to the ground and later turned back to the mountain during another struggle. The advantage on the feet gave Lara the first round.
Watanabe’s wrestling helped her turn the fight around a second time and she walked through a pair of heavy elbows to secure a trip. The two scrambled some pleasant ones, but it was Watanabe who got better positions for most of the round, while also succeeding with ground-and-pound. The third round was a clear Watanabe frame as she again recorded an early removal and neutralized Lara with her struggle.
Two judges scored Watanabe 29-28, while the third gave Lara 29-28.
Check out the full Bellator 255 results below, which are available for free for MMA Fighting:
Main card
Patricio Pitbull defeats Emmanuel Sanchez via submission (guillotine choking) – Round 1, 3:35
Jason Jackson defeated Neiman Gracie by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Defeat Tyrell Fortune. Jack May via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:16
Defeat Usman Nurmagomedov. Mike Hamel by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Kana Watanabe defeats Alejandra Lara via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Preliminary map
Defeat Magomed Magomedov. Cee Jay Hamilton via submission (naked choking) – Round 2, 1:22
Defeat Mandel Nallo. Ricardo Seixas via KO (punch) – Ronde 1, 3:23 – KYK
Khalid Murtazaliev defended. Fabio Aguiar by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Defeat Chris Gonzalez. Roger Huerta via submission (strikes) – Round 3, 3:01
Jose Augusto defeats Jonathan Wilson via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 1, 4:58
Roman Faraldo defeats Trevor Gudde via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:30
Defeat Jordan Newman. Branko Busick via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 2:30