👊 @Mansourbarnaoui
applying the pressure to @adampiccolotti.
#Bellator287 | 🇺🇸 @SHOSports
| 🇬🇧 @BBCThree
pic.twitter.com/GPac6q2UAb— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA)
October 29, 2022
The debuting Mansour
Barnaoui took advantage of being in the main event of
Bellator 287 and picked up a dominant win over Adam
Piccolotti.
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Piccolotti (13-5) wasted little time in implementing his game plan
as he immediately took the fight to the ground, which wound up
being a mistake. Barnaoui (20-4), who hasn’t fought since 2019,
survived an armbar attempt and was able to take the back of the
American and control the rest of the opening frame. “The
Afro-Samurai”
would once again take the back of his opponent in Round 2 and sunk
in a rear-naked choke that forced the tap.
The tap officially came at 2:51 of Round 2.
Edwards Controls Ward
The co-main event was a European middleweight clash between
England’s Fabian
Edwards and Charlie
Ward from Ireland.
Both men came out looking to strike and it was Edwards (11-2) that
struck first with a solid head kick that wobbled the Irish fighter.
Ward (10-5) would survive into the second frame thanks to a
successful takedown. Edwards would switch things up in Round 2 by
taking Ward down several times and landing dicing elbows while on
top. The largely one-sided beating continued as Edwards was simply
the stronger fighter with better technique as he controlled Ward
and took his back throughout the final round while talking trash
and landing punches.
Edwards’ clear-cut victory was made official with scores of 29-28,
30-27 and 30-27 in his favor.
Wilde Outstrikes Rogers
A featured lightweight fight between Saul Rogers
and Tim
Wilde lived up to expectations.
Early scrambles saw Rogers (15-5) take his opponent down, secure
the back of Wilde (15-4-1) and look for several submissions.
However, the English fighter would survive a couple of close calls
to see a second round. Wilde would fare much better in Round 2 as
he found himself on top of “Tha Hangman” and was able to land some
thudding ground and pound before the fight went back to the feet.
The final round was largely controlled by Wilde on the feet,
although Rogers secured a takedown and unsuccessfully looked for
submissions for a minute.
After 15 minutes of action, the judges decided Wilde had done
enough for a split decision win with scores of 29-28, 28-29 and
29-28.
Gonzales Overwhelms Fisher
The Bellator 287 main card opened with a featherweight bout between
Justin
Gonzales and Andrew
Fisher.
Early on, the wrestling of Gonzales (14-1) was the difference maker
as he was able to find success in the clinch and take the fight to
the floor against Fisher (19-9-1, 1 NC). As the fight went on, “J-Train” continued to outstrike the English veteran as he was
quicker and more accurate with his punches. While never in danger
of being finished, Fisher wasn’t able to find any success in a
one-sided thrashing of a final round that saw the English fighter’s
nose busted up by pinpoint punches.
Gonzales was awarded a unanimous decision win with scores of 30-27
across the board.
In televised preliminary action, Daniel Scatizzi outworked Davy Gallon
to earn three 29-28 scorecards in his favor; Costello
van Steenis
made a successful return by sinking in a brabo choke against
Kamil
Oniszczuk at 3:02 of Round 2; Alfie Davis
outstruck Thibault
Gouti to take three 30-27 scorecards; Chiara
Penco took a controversial split decision verdict (29-28,
28-29, 30-27) over Manuela
Marconetto; Yves Landu
took a unanimous decision victory over Walter
Cogliandro with scores of 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27; Simon
Biyong pounded out Walter
Cogliandro
with punches from mount position to get a TKO stoppage at 3:36
of Round 2; Nicolo
Solli defeated Bourama
Camara via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28); Luke
Trainer
used a rear-naked choke to submit Lucas
Alsina after just 1:54 of action; Steven Hill
picked up a unanimous decision (30-27, 29-27, 30-26) win over
Andrea
Fusi; and Sarvardzhon
Khamidov picked up an impressive TKO win over Jose Maria
Tome
with a well-placed body kick and punches at 1:01 of Round 1.