Bellator 258 ‘Archuleta vs. Pettis’ Play-by-Play, Results & Round Scoring

Round 1

Kicking off the card, Erik Perez (19-8), who had a sterling 7-2
record in the UFC but is presently 0-2 in Bellator, is a big
favorite over Blaine Shutt (8-4). Officiating the contest will be
referee Kerry Hatley. Shutt begins the action with a nice leg kick.
Perez comes forward with a series of punches, but Shutt mostly
avoids them. Perez is stalking forward, but Shutt is bouncing well
and circling. Suddenly, Shutt starts limping on a foot and
immediately shoots in. He is able to stall, but is eating plenty of
punches and elbows. Nevertheless, he gets Perez against the cage
and onto his butt. Even in this position, though, Perez continues
to pepper him with strikes. Eventually though, Perez is able to get
back up, and Shutt goes for a guillotine which has little chance of
success. Perez is now on top, in half-guard. Halfway through the
round, and Shutt is against the cage, absorbing the occasional
punch from Perez. Perez is posturing up, but Shutt is unable to use
the butterfly guard to get back up. With the additional space,
Perez lands some heavy, hard elbows that find the mark. Shutt tries
to scramble off the cage, and is able to get some exotic
situations, albeit with Perez still on top. Shutt kicks off the
cage again and seems to be up, but Perez maintains top control and
hits Shutt with some elbows for his efforts. Shutt is active
though, going for a triangle and then an omoplatta, both avoided by
the experienced Perez. Perez continues to land solid
ground-and-pound, mixing in punches and elbows at a steady rhythm.
10-9 Perez.

Round 2

Perez lands the first good shot of the stanza, with a nice body
kick. Shutt goes for some type of roll for a possible submissoin,
but only winds up on his back for his troubles. Surprisingly, after
a short while, Perez stands back up with him, perhaps prefering to
strike. And not long after that, as Shutt comes forward with
punches, Perez catches him with a hard overhand right that stuns
his opponent. As Perez comes forward with more punches, Shutt goes
to his knees, preferring to be on his back. He might regret this
decision, though, as against the cage, Perez mercilessly punishes
him with elbows, which Shutt is simply eating. Kerry Hatley is
taking a closer look. After a considerable amount of damage, Shutt
is able to grab onto his biceps and slow the attack, at least for a
while. Perez continues being active, hitting him with punches when
the elbows aren’t there. Shutt’s head is trapped against the cage,
making the impact of many of the blows from the top even worse.
Perez continues teeing off at will with ground-and-pound, and Shutt
is simply eating it, no longer trying to even scramble or throw up
submissions. With a minute left, Shutt is simply looking to
survive. Out of nowhere, Perez gets a little sloppy and gives up
his back while on top, and suddenly, Shutt has some slim chance of
a rear-naked choke! However, he doesn’t have both hooks in and
Perez is able to turn back into him, and lands some brutal punches
and elbows on Shutt to end the round. Very dominant round, outside
of about 20 seconds. 10-8 Perez.

Round 3

Shutt throws a few punches to start the final round, but they miss
by a solid foot. Perez comes forward with punches of his own, which
patially land. Shutt, surprisingly, lands a nice front kick to
Perez’s face, but it doesn’t do enough damage. Against the cage,
they trade head kicks, with Perez getting the better of the
exchanges. Shutt decides his best opportunity to win is a
guillotine, but again, he doesn’t have it on well, and ends up on
his back, with Perez in his half-guard. Finding himself in a
familiar spot, Perez does what has worked all fight long, scoring
with powerful, short elbows and nice punches. As a neat new
wrinkle, Perez is ripping hard punches to the body now, not just
the head. Shutt postures up, giving up his back, and then manages
to stand up. Against the cage, however, he eats a number of hard
knees to the head from Perez. It’s bad enough that he decides to
drop again to his knees. Shutt tries again to stand up, eating a
number of punches, but in this case, is able to fully regain his
feet. Finally, they disengage, and when Perez misses a spinning
elbow, Shutt show-boats that it missed, a strange gesture for
someone who is being dominated. Shutt is tired and his few punches
are slow and lack power. Perez has also slowed down, but his
punches still possess power. With thirty seconds left, Shutt shoots
in for a single-leg, which Perez easily pancake sprawls. They
scramble a little to end the fight. A game performance by Shutt, by
a very dominant performance by Perez, giving his opponent few
chances. 10-9 Perez (30-26 Perez).

The Official Result

Erik Perez def. Blaine Shutt via Unanimous Decision (30-26, 30-27,
30-27)