Bellator 240

Bellator came back to Ireland and had their event at the 3 Arena in Dublin on the 22nd of February. I took my seat as the first fight got underway but I didn't pay too much attention to it as I was getting settled and looking for a full line up of the card and setting up notes on my phone. I was seated opposite one of the cage doors which slightly obstructed my view if they were fighting in the centre of the cage. But I tried to watch the cage rather than the screens as much as I could. I saw John Kavanagh looking at the screen a few times while shouting instructions to his fighters so my view of the action didn't feel as bad as I thought it might be when I first took my seat. The opening fight was a featherweight contest between Adjoudj and Balinta. Balinta won by split decision. Next up was another featherweight contest. Clarke dominated Faulding in a unanimous decision victory. I seem to recall some fierce elbows from Clarke while he was on top of Faulding against the cage. The following flyweight contest between O'Driscoll and Bouarsa didn't last long. O'Driscoll with a 1st round TKO victory. Logan v Murrie next and it was a win for Murrie with a rear naked choke in the first. John Kavanagh looked annoyed at his fighter after it ended because he was shouting instructions during the choke as though he saw a way for Logan to get out of it. The action was happening fairly close to Kavanagh. The next one was a contracted 161lbs bout. Piskorz of Poland had a good following in the crowd but it wasn't to be his night though. There was a big cheer from the crowd in the first round. Referee Dan Miragliotta moved closer to the action to see if he needed to step in. Piskorz managed to break from Duncan and the ref tripped and fell as he was backing away. He got up quickly but it got a big cheer from the crowd. In the second Duncan was handing out too much punishment to Piskorz and the ref stepped in. TKO for Duncan. Will Fleury at middleweight was up next trying to get back in the win column. Fleury was clearly the better fighter but when he went for the takedowns his opponent Moore would wrap an underarm around Fleury's neck and it looked like Moore could work to a submission attempt from where I was watching (noticed the same thing when Clarke took down Faulding). I needn't have worried. Fleury got on top of Moore and worked his way to an arm triangle submission in the first round.

Artem Lobov on the stand with John Kavanagh to his right, cornering Richie Smullen

Richie Smullen was up next. His opponent was Dias from Brazil. It was a close fought contest but Dias got the split decision victory.

Next up was one of the fights I was anticipating before the event. Neilan v Penco. In the opening exchanges Penco looked smooth and the more fluid fighter. She tried to use her reach and height advantage and kept her opponent at distance at first. But Danni Neilan grafted her way to dominance. She more dominated than out classed Penco to a unanimous decision victory. Two professional fights for Danni Neilan and two strong victories. Following on from that was Redmond v Karakhanyan. Redmond looked pretty good but in the second round Karakhanyan locked in a guillotine choke that Redmond couldn't get out of so a submission win for Karakhanyan. Richard Kiely, coming off a loss to Michael "Venom" Page in September, was up next and to be honest he didn't look that good. It looked to me like he tried to imitate Page's style in his fight against Hardwick on Saturday night. He had some interesting moments but ultimately lost to Hardwick with the second guillotine submission in a row at the event. Enkamp v Long next. There were a few good exchanges and Long was holding his own. Then came a highlight reel finish much to the appreciation of the crowd. Enkamp bounced back one step and spun around looking for a spinning back fist. He caught Long with his elbow so I called it a spinning back elbow in my notes. First round KO for Enkamp by spinning back elbow. He went in with a couple of hammer fists but the ref was already moving in to stop the fight as he was swinging them. Long was already out.

Franz Mlambo in the cage before his fight with Ricky Bandejas

Then there was another of the fights I was anticipating: Ricky Bandejas v Franz Mlambo. I said in the blog last week that I thought Bandejas would win because Mlambo can get caught, but I was still hoping Mlambo would win. It was an amazing opening round for the Irishman. Bandejas looked to be trying to feel his opponent out and Mlambo capitalised on every opportunity that presented itself. I watched most of the fight without the aid of the big screens so I didn't see things from every vantage point. Malmbo dropped Bandejas a couple of times and was clearly the better fighter in a dominant first round. He looked way better than expected. SBG had him well prepared. Then in the second round Bandejas went for a kick to the body but Mlambo caught it. While Mlambo was thinking about what to do next with his head unguarded Bandejas caught him twice in the head with swinging punches. Mlambo went face down on the canvas. I thought he slipped because Bandejas was on one leg and I didn't think he'd generated enough power while Mlambo was holding the other. Once he went to ground Bandejas was quickly in with rapid hammer fists to the head and the referee stepped in. Mlambo grabbed the ref's leg and when he realised what was going on he stood up and looked surprised that the ref stopped it. Becuase of this I thought it was an early stoppage, but looking at the replay on the big screen, I could understand the stoppage. KO victory for Bandejas 1m 42s of round 2. Bandejas said to give him another SBG Ireland fighter since he's knocked out two in a row when asked who he'd like next. Brian Moore was in the arena and posted on instagram tagging Bandejas to let him know he was willing to fight him next. Australia's Bec Rawlings v Kallionidu of Greece was up next. It started off on the feet as expected but Rawlings got a take down and dominated on the ground. Between rounds Rawlings looked exhausted though. In the second Kallionidu looked to establish distance and step up the pace with her striking and keep the fight on the feet. In the standing exchanges she looked like she might have the upper hand. But Rawlings got another take down and managed to keep it on the ground for most of the round where she looked dominant. She thought she had won at the end of the second because she locked in a tight rear naked choke, but the bell rang just as it looked like Kallionidu might tap. Again, Rawlings looked exhausted between rounds. It was a similar story in the third but Kallionidu managed to catch Rawlings and put her in trouble when there were standing exchanges. But she couldn't keep it standing and so couldn't dominate. In the end it was a unanimous decision victory for Rawlings. Kiefer Crosbie faced Furtado in the next one. Furtado proved to be a difficult opponent. There was a bit of gamesmanship, it looked like to me, from Furtado's corner between rounds. Before the start of the second the ref had to instruct them to wipe down Furtado and they were slow to do so. He was drenched before the start of round 3 and the ref called for a towel and wiped him down himself. It was almost as if Furtado was trying to get extra time to rest between rounds and get Crosbie impatient. Crosbie got fined for flipping the bird at Furtado after the fight but apologised for the incident. I can understand his frustration if he saw the between rounds antics as gamesmanship, although I don't know what was said to each other during the fight. Crosbie won by split decision. Next up was the main event for those watching on Paramount in the USA. Brent Primus faced late replacement Chris Bungard. Bungard in for the injured Peter Queally. Bungard had a couple of good moments on the feet at first. But once it went to ground Primus went for a choke. He couldn't lock it in but adjusted and got the submission victory by neck crank in the first round. Then it was on to the Irish Main card. They made changes to the cage to suit the sponsors for the Channel 5 tv coverage so there was a longer break between fights.

First up was Aaron Chalmers v Austin Clem. It was a dominant performance from Clem. One judge even scoring it 30-26! Chalmers couldn't string any decent attacks together. Unanimous decision victory for Clem. Ward v Kurtz was the co-main. SBG's Charlie Ward looking to get back to winning ways after losing last time out in London. He looked good out there. He was sharp. In the third round there was a lot of blood coming from cuts on Kurtz's face and the doctor was called in but he said it was ok to fight on. It didn't last long though. Kurtz was taking a beating at that stage and the ref decided to call a halt to proceedings less than two minutes later. TKO victory in the 3rd for Ward.

Leah McCourt is interviewed after her fight as her daughter hugs her

One thing that disappointed me was that a lot of people left the arena before the main event. The arena was still more than half full but surely they should have stayed around to support a big prospect in Irish MMA. Leah McCourt faced German Judith Ruis in the main event. There was a woman screaming for Leah louder than everyone else in the arena a couple of rows behind me. People were getting a laugh out of her screaming "come on Leah, you can do it! Do it for Isabella!" Isabella is Leah's daughter. I got a bit distracted by her screaming and one guy taking the mickey out of her to laughs of the people around him. But I wish some of the people that had already left had stayed and been as enthusiastic in supporting Leah. There was a moment where Ruiz looked to to have locked in a solid arm bar and I thought it might be over, but McCourt kept her composure and managed to turn in towards Ruis and got an excellent escape. Leah McCourt looked good in her unanimous decision victory though. 

I left the arena shortly after everyone left the cage after the main event. I found out the following day that I missed another fight. John Kavanagh tweeted that his last fighter was in the cage at midnight. I saw highlights of what looked like a good fight on twitter that wasn't on when I was in the arena - Bulaid v Freitas - so I'm assuming this fight in front of an almost empty arena happened after the main event. Described by the commentary team as two high level kick boxers in an MMA cage with MMA gloves. Illias Bulaid got a unanimous decision victory over Diego Freitas.