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Machida and Phil Davis
went back-and-forth for 15 minutes in the first of two events that
Bellator
MMA is holding this week. The main event of
Bellator 245 saw Davis (22-5, 1 NC) edge out Machida (26-10)
over three rounds. The two fighters tested each other on the feet
throughout the bout with neither man coming close to finishing the
fight or significantly hurting the other. However, Davis was the
quicker man and was able to stay more active than the Brazilian.
The Penn State wrestling alumnus was awarded a split decision with
two judges scoring it 29-28 Davis, while the dissenting judge
thought Machida won two rounds.
The two mixed martial artists previously fought in 2013 at
UFC 163, where Davis won a unanimous decision.
In the co-main event, Cat Zingano
earned her first win since 2018 by largely dominating a game
Gabrielle
Holloway. Zingano (11-4) outlanded and controlled her opponent
easily in the first two rounds, but Holloway (6-6) battled back and
managed to gain full mount in Round 3. Ultimately, the late
comeback wasn’t enough as Zingano secured a victory on scorecards
of 29-27, 30-26, and 30-26.
Taylor
Johnson made a successful promotional debut and quickly
submitted Ed Ruth for the
biggest win of his career. Johnson needed just 59 seconds to
lock up an inverted heel hook that forced Ruth (8-3) to tap.
With the victory, Johnson advances to 6-1 and is someone to watch
at middleweight.
The main card kicked off with a welterweight contest between
Raymond
Daniels and Peter
Stanonik. Unfortunately, it ended as a no contest after Daniels
(2-1, 1 NC) landed two groin shots from spinning back kicks that
left Stanonik (4-4, 1 NC) in tears. The fight was officially called
off at 1:00 of Round 2.
In preliminary action, Alex
Polizzi (7-0) outworked former middleweight champion Rafael
Carvalho (16-5) to earn a trio of 30-27 scorecards; Leslie
Smith (12-8-1) earned a unanimous decision win (29-28, 29-28,
29-28) over Amanda Bell
(7-7); the heavyweight contest between Tyrell
Fortune (8-1, 1 NC) vs. Jack May ended
in a no contest after an errant knee struck May (11-6, 1 NC) low at
2:42 of Round 1; and “Killa” Keith Lee
(7-3) won a unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) over Vinicius
Zani (11-7).