seconds was all it took!@BellatorKB
champ @DeniseKielholtz
gets the first-round KO!#Bellator247
pic.twitter.com/Cno0Ztcpl6— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA)
October 1, 2020
Given the challenges that Bellator
MMA had to overcome on fight week, it couldn’t have asked for a
better start to the CBS Sports era.
Bellator 247 was unexpectedly headlined by a women’s flyweight
clash between Denise
Kielholtz (6-2) and Kate
Jackson (11-5-1). Like in the spaghetti western films of old,
the duel ended in less than one minute. After a few tense
exchanges, Kielholtz landed a violent left hook that sent her
opponent crashing face-first to the canvas. With ground-and-pound
that could be viewed as unnecessary, Kielholtz followed up with
several shots including one after the stoppage to draw the ire of
referee Dan Miragliotta. The official end of the fight came in just
43 seconds.
“Every time I step in the cage, my plan works. It was amazing [to
headline Bellator 247]. Women fighters are on the main card in this
big event. I’m so blessed to stand here with all the things that
are going on right now in the world,” Kielholtz said in her
post-fight interview. The kickboxer then changed her tune to one
specific goal: a shot at Ilima-Lei
Macfarlane’s title. “I’m the kickboxing world champion in
Bellator,” she exclaimed, “and I just want a red belt next to my
blue belt.”
A masterful submission.
Norbert Novenyi Jr. puts away Laid Zerhouni in the first round of
their @BellatorMMA
247 bout with impressive ground work. pic.twitter.com/gcz7VCI0xq— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet)
October 1, 2020
The co-main event featured a middleweight tilt between Norbert
Novenyi (6-0) and Laid
Zerhouni (7-6). The French fighter surprised many by landing a
quick left that dropped Novenyi in the early going. The Hungarian
fighter immediately recovered from the shot by landing a takedown.
Once on the mat, Novenyi proved once again how comfortable he feels
in the grappling exchanges. The still-undefeated athlete first
applied an anaconda choke that almost forced Zerhouni to tap. Even
though the French contender managed to find his way out of the
sticky situation, he could do nothing to prevent Novenyi from
locking up a triangle choke. Zerhouni surrendered at the 4:36 mark
in the opening stanza.
In some featherweight action, Brian Moore
(13-7) staged a huge comeback when he cracked Simone
D’Anna (7-3) with a massive right hand at the 3:55 mark of
Round 2. “The Pikeman” arguably lost the first round to a
relentless D’Anna, with the latter eager to redeem himself after
being on the losing side of the fastest KO in the Bellator history.
In the second round, the Italian fighter even knocked down his
opponent, but Moore recovered from the shot to land a huge uppercut
that shook D’Anna. The Irish fighter finished his rocked opponent a
few seconds later.
In the first battle on the main card, Chris
Duncan (7-0) pieced Iamik
Furtado (6-4) up to score a TKO victory at the 3:58 mark of the
second frame.
There’s a first time for everything!
@JohnMcCarthyMMA
says he’s never seen the “superguard” ( aka scorpion crunch) pulled
off in #MMA
& Monika Tochlikova made it happen at
#Bellator247.We are live now on YouTube!
https://t.co/rTzaAC8ttR#Bellator247
pic.twitter.com/m1cSSNwbSC— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA)
October 1, 2020
In some action from the preliminary card, Lewis Long
(18-6) scored his 11th submission victory when he tapped Giovanni
Melillo (13-6) with a kneebar at the 2:24 mark in the opening
round. The first bout on the card featured a pair of neophyte
atomweights, where Monika
Chochlikova (1-0) finished fellow ex-kickboxer Jade Jorand
(0-1) at 3:50 of Round 2 with an unorthodox body triangle off her
back called a “scorpion crush” – marking the first-ever body
triangle submission in Bellator history.