The champ retains with a walk-off!
Is @PatricioPitbull
the greatest fighter in Bellator MMA history?
#Bellator252 pic.twitter.com/A2BlOs3J7i— Bellator Europe (@Bellator_Europe)
November 13, 2020
As part of the Bellator
MMA featherweight grand prix, Patricio
Freire put his featherweight belt on the line against Pedro
Carvalho in the main event of
Bellator 252. However, the belt never came close to changing hands as Freire made
quick work of his challenger and remains the man to beat in the
grand prix as a result. „Pitbull“ finished Carvalho in less than a
round after hurting his opponent with overhand rights. It was a
beautiful right hand that ended the fight at the 2:10 mark. He’ll
now get to face former title challenger Emmanuel
Sanchez in a rematch of their 2018 bout
The welterweight co-main event saw Yaroslav
Amosov and Logan
Storley test their skills against one another for 15 minutes.
Both fighters were undefeated going into the bout, but it was
Amosov (25-0) that kept his perfect record intact. „Dynamo“ was
able to outwork Storley (11-1) over the first rounds and survived a
rear-naked choke scare late in Round 3. After 15 minutes, the
judges delivered a split verdict with Amosov taking two of three
29-28 scorecards.
The main card opened with another five-round featherweight grand
prix bout as Sanchez faced Daniel
Weichel in a rematch of their
Bellator 159 bout that saw Weichel take a split decision. The
bodywork of Sanchez made a huge difference as a liver shot in Round
2 sat down Weichel. While Sanchez was unable to get the finish, the
damage was done, and „El Matador“ cruised to a unanimous decision
win with scores of 48-46, 49-46 and 49-45. Both of the semi-final
bouts are now set as A.J. McKee
will face Darrion
Caldwell on Nov. 19 and Sanchez will face Freire at a later
date.
In preliminary action, Aaron Pico
(7-3) blasted John de
Jesus (13-9)
with a huge overhand right at 4:12 of the second frame;
Keri
Melendez (5-0) submitted Emilee King
(4-4)
with a rear-naked choke just 3:02 into Round 1; Luis Muro
(12-6) won a unanimous decision over
Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Devin
Powell (10-5), who retired after the bout; Jornel Lugo
(5-0) picked up a unanimous decision victory over Schyler
Sootho (4-1) with scorecards of 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 in his
favor; Lucas
Brennan (4-0) earned a dominant unanimous decision (30-27,
30-26, 30-26) over Andrew
Salas (6-5); Roman
Faraldo (4-0) put away Pat Casey
(6-4) with
an impressive flying knee at 2:30 of Round 2; and Trevor
Gudde (2-1) stunned Khonry
Gracie (2-2) with
a big knee at 3:28 of Round 3 in the night’s opening contest.