What a statement! @ajmckee101
captures career win No. by submitting Darrion Caldwell.McKee now moves to the
#BellatorFWGP finals to face Pitbull/Sanchez.
#Bellator253 pic.twitter.com/VyGaXpgYk5— Bellator Europe (@Bellator_Europe)
November 20, 2020
Thanks to
Bellator 253’s main event, we now know one finalist for
Bellator
MMA’s featherweight grand prix.
Darrion
Caldwell was thought to be a major challenge for A.J. McKee,
but the former Bellator bantamweight champion was unable to mount
much offense. McKee (17-0) was able to latch in a neck crank after
a successful takedown by Caldwell (15-4) that forced the former
champ to submit at 1:11 of Round 1. McKee will now face the winner
of Patricio
Freire and Emmanuel
Sanchez for the featherweight championship.
The welterweight co-main event saw former
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight champion Benson
Henderson face off against former
Legacy Fighting Alliance welterweight king Jason
Jackson. „The Ass-Kicking Machine“ was the larger fighter
inside the cage and that size nullfied a lot of the wrestling of
Henderson (28-10). With sharper striking, Jackson (13-4) was able
to take a clear decision winning 30-27 on all three scorecards.
Welterweight prospect Joey Davis
looked great against Bobby Lee.
Davis (8-0) was able to control Lee (12-5) on the ground over 15
minutes of action. This led to the undefeated fighter earning a
clear-cut unanimous decision win with scores of 30-26, 30-27 and
30-27.
The main card opened up with a bantamweight bout between Keith Lee
and Raufeon
Stots. Both men had their moments over 15 minutes but it was
Stots (15-1) who did enough in the eyes of the judges. Three 30-27
scorecards awarded „Killa“ a unanimous decision win over Lee
(7-4).
In preliminary action, Jeremy
Kennedy (16-2, 1 NC) dominated Matt
Bessette (24-10, 1 NC) and picked up scores of 30-27, 30-26 and
30-26 in his favor; Jaleel
Willis outstruck Mark
Lemminger over 15 minutes to earn three 29-28 scorecards;
Jay-Jay
Wilson needed just 20 seconds to notch an impressive knockout of
Sergio de
Bari; Kaheem
Murray (4-3) easily won a decision over Kevin
Ferguson Jr. (3-3) picking up three 30-27 scorecards in the
process; and Sullivan
Cauley (1-0)
needed just 28 seconds to finish Jason
Markland (0-2) with punches and win his pro debut.