Timothy
Johnson spoiled the Frenchman’s party for the first-ever
Bellator event in France.
Johnnson (15-6) defeated Cheick Kongo
(30-11-2) via split decision in a heavyweight matchup of Ultimate
Fighting Championship veterans in the Bellator Paris headliner at
Accor Arena in Paris, France, on Saturday. In the opening
stanza, Johnson exploited a careless leg kick from Kongo
to take his opponent on the canvas. The American fighter pressed on
the accelerator from there and almost closed the contest early with
a flurry of punches. But Kongo was able to survive the sticky
situation once Johnson’s pace slowed.
In the second stanza, the French veteran showed off some of his
skills from the Thai clinch before moving the action to the ground
himself and controlling Johnson on the canvas. In the last
stanza, the two contenders clinched for most of the time against
the fence, where it seemed that Johnson prevailed in the exchanges.
At the end of the contest, two of the three cageside judges
rewarded Johnson with his third straight victory, allowing him
to avenge a first-round KO loss to Kongo in their first meeting at
Bellator 208.
@Saul_Rogers
with some smooth grappling at
#BellatorES10.The main event is up next!#BellatorParis
#MMA
pic.twitter.com/UJk4F5axQj— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA)
October 10, 2020
The co-main event featured a featherweight affair between “The
Ultimate Fighter” Season 22 competitor Saul Rogers
(14-3) and Arbi
Mezhidov (13-4), where it took little more than four minutes
for “The Hangman” to get rid of his Austrian opponent. Once
Rogers moved the action on the canvas, he started threatening his
opponent with several submission attempts, including an anaconda
choke. Mezhidov tried his best to defend himself from the
relentless offense of his opponent, but he could do nothing to
resist a slick rear-naked choke that forced him to tap at
the 4:38 mark.
Earlier that night, Michael
Page (18-1) upended Ross
Houston (8–1, 1 NC) in what served as the Bellator 248 main
event. Houston started strong in the opening stanza and took
his opponent to the canvas after catching one of the flashy kicks
from “Venom.” The Scottish fighter controlled his opponent for the
rest of the round, landing some ground-and-pound shots despite
being unable to achieve full mount.
In the second round, Page retaliated with a takedown of his own
before landing a few blows, one of which landed on the back on
Houston’s head. “The Hitman” was able to continue, but MVP seemed
more comfortable than he did in the opening round. The third stanza
developed at a slow pace that didn’t appease the French fans, who
expressed their disappointment loudly. Still, Page did enough to
win the round. Eventually, the judges rewarded MVP with a unanimous
decision victory with scorecards of 30-27, 30-27 and
29-28.
In the Bellator 248 co-main event, Bellator welterweight contender
Oliver
Enkamp (10-2) submitted Emmanuel
Dawa (9-4) thanks to a slick Japanese necktie submission that
came at the 4:10 mark of the first round. Elsewhere, Alan Omer
(24-6) overcome Ryan Scope
(10-4) via TKO at the 1:46 mark in the opening stanza. In a
featherweight affair, Mads
Burnell (14-3) scored a first-round TKO victory at
the 3:13 mark at the expense of Darko
Banovic (15-8).