Johnny
Eblen’s claim as the best middleweight in the world just got
stronger as the Bellator
MMA middleweight champion brutally defended his title with a
third-round knockout of Fabian
Edwards in the
Bellator 299 main event at the 3arena in Dublin.

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Eblen (14-0) and Edwards (12-3) have had some bad blood in the
promotion for this fight but the two had tons of respect early in
the fight. Edwards led the way early with calf kicks but Eblen’s
pressure along the cage made Edwards drain his energy.

As Edwards continued to defend takedowns, Eblen’s confidence
continued to grow. The 31-year-old kingpin opened up and nearly
paid for it after he was cut between the eyes by a sharp elbow from
Edwards. The pressure was on as Eblen headed back to his corner
before the third round.

With blood seeping into his eyes, Eblen saw red at the start of
Round 3, the champ wasted little time putting Edwards on his back
and it was all over from there. Eblen dropped vicious elbows until
Edwards was unconscious only 21 seconds into the stanza.

Aaron
Pico has his eyes set on a featherweight title shot and it may
be hard to deny him after Saturday’s performance. Pico steamrolled
Pedro
Carvalho in the first round behind a well-rounded
performance.

Pico put his world-class wrestling on display by taking Carvalho
down three times, but it was his power that stole the show. Pico
dropped Carvalho before entering his guard, where he rained down
elbows that forced a stoppage with two minutes remaining in the
round. Fresh off the heels of his second straight win, Pico (12-4)
called for a title shot.



On paper, heavy-handed Sinead
Kavanagh’s matchup with undefeated Sara
Collins should’ve been an interesting display of thunderous
striking pitted against high-level grappling, but neither was
shown. Kavanagh and Collins cautiously circled each other for 15
minutes and found few moments throughout the chess match.

Despite having the heavier hands, Kavanagh’s caution allowed
Collins to dictate the pace over the final two rounds and eke out a
tight split decision in front of the pro-Kavanagh crowd (29-28,
28-29, 28-29). Collins worked behind the jab and lateral footwork
to keep Kavanaugh out of range and it was enough to improve her
record to 5-0.

Featherweight Daniel
Weichel hung his gloves up after 57 fights over 21 years after
dropping a unanimous decision against Mads
Burnell (29-28, 30-27, 30-27). Weichel had his moments, but
Burnell looked as sharp as ever as the Denmark native picked up his
second straight win.

Levan
Chokheli may find himself on SportsCenter after delivering a
highlight-reel knockout to the chin of Sabah
Homasi in their welterweight clash. Chokheli (13-2) came in on
a two-fight winning streak, looking to push his way up the
170-pound standings. He succeeded in an unforgettable way.

Seeking to back Homasi up against the fence, Chokheli threw up a
snapping front kick that barely missed its mark, but clearly made
him uncomfortable. Before Homasi could get the timing on the kick,
Chokheli immediately followed with another and cracked his man flat
on the chin for the first-round knockout (1:51).

Irish fans were disappointed as local fan favorite Peter
Queally’s welterweight showdown with Daniele
Miceli was called a no-contest after Queally was cut due to an
illegal soccer kick early in the first round.

Queally entered the bout on a three-fight losing streak but was
hoping to get back on track against the Bellator newcomer. The
fight had barely opened up before “The Showstopper” was dropped by
Micele’s calf kick; in excitement Micele followed up with an
illegal shot that cut Queally over his eye. The bout lasted a mere
26 seconds before referee Blake Grice
called the contest.

In other prelim action, strawweight prospect Mackenzie
Stiller improved to 2-0 after a unanimous decision victory over
Chiara
Penco (29-28, 29-28,29-28). Mark Ewen won
his fifth straight fight with a second-round knockout of Noah
Gugnon. Heavyweight Sergey
Bilostenniy added a highlight knockout to his reel after
catching Kasim Aras
with a spinning back kick. Romain
Debienne dispatched of Nicolo
Solli in under a minute. Josh
O’Connor picked up an impressive decision win (30-27, 30-26,
30-26) over Irishman Kenny
Mokhonoana. Asael
Adjoudj may have lost his pro debut but he’s been on fire
since, picking up a seventh straight win with a unanimous decision
nod (29-28, 30-27, 30-27) over Ibrahim
Al-Faqih Hassan. Attila
Korkmaz took the decision out of the judges‘ hands with a
stunning knockout win over Davy Gallon
23 seconds into the start of Round 3. Featherweight Otto
Rodrigues silenced the Dublin crowd with a second-round arm
triangle over Brian Moore
(1:31). Ireland’s Darragh
Kelly brought the hometown crowd to its feet with a third-round
TKO over Jelle
Zeegers (3:32). Khasan
Magomedsharipov notched his ninth straight win with a brabo
choke on Piotr
Niedzielski in featherweight action. Luca Poclit
(10-1) wasted little time on the ground with Roman
Faraldo, picking up his second straight finish via brabo choke
in the first round (2:18). Ciaran
Clarke’s (8-0) undefeated start continued after the Irish
featherweight sunk in an arm triangle on Przemyslaw
Gorny midway through Round 2 (2:52). Middleweight Gregory
Babene moved to 5-0 in Bellator after submitting Charlie
Ward in the first round (1:03). Jay-Jay
Wilson eked out the biggest win of his career with a unanimous
decision win over lightweight veteran Mansour
Barnaoui (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

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