@Kongo4real
beats the bell and makes Sergei Kharitonov tap before the end of
the nd round!#Bellator265
pic.twitter.com/PnU04aeLUz— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA)
August 21, 2021
Cheick
Kongo still has what it takes to get the job done under
Bellator
MMA’s bright lights.
A little more than three months removed from his 46th birthday, the
ageless Frenchman submitted
Pride Fighting Championships veteran Sergei
Kharitonov with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their
Bellator 265 headliner on Friday at the Sanford Pentagon in
Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Kharitonov (30-8, 3-3 Bellator)
capitulated 4:59 into Round 2.
Kongo (31-11-2, 13-4 Bellator) trudged through significant
difficulty to get to the finish line. Kharitonov punished him with
a powerful jab, hunted his patented uppercut and had him reeling
with a kick to the face at the end of the first round. Everything
changed in the second, where Kongo dazed the Russian with a
thudding right hand, flurried with punches and knees at close
range, executed a takedown and climbed to full mount. He secured
the choke in the closing seconds, prompting a reluctant tapout from
the exhausted Kharitonov.
Meanwhile, Sanford MMA rep Logan
Storley rebounded from his first pro defeat and took a split
decision from One Championship alum Dante
Schiro in the three-round welterweight co-main event. All three
cageside judges scored it 29-28: Ron McCarthy and Bryan Miner for
Storley, Jerin Valel
for Schiro.
Storley (12-1, 7-1 Bellator) struck for multiple takedowns in the
first two rounds and paired them with suffocating control from the
top, passing from half guard to side mount while attempting to
integrate his ground-and-pound. Schiro (8-3, 0-1 Bellator) largely
neutralized the four-time NCAA All-American wrestler from the
bottom, then started to turn the tide in the third round. There, he
managed to stay on his feet, jockeyed for position in the clinch
and scored in the standup. Unfortunately for the underdog, time ran
out.
The defeat snapped Schiro’s two-fight winning streak.
Elsewhere, American Top Team’s Marcelo
Golm cut down Billy
Swanson with punches in the first round of their heavyweight
showcase. Swanson (4-2, 0-1 Bellator), who entered the cage on the
strength of three consecutive wins, succumbed to blows 4:57 into
Round 1.
Golm (9-3, 1-0 Bellator) made use of his clubbing right hand,
scored with clean combinations and unleashed knees at close range.
He trapped Swanson in a clinch along the fence late
in the first round, delivered a jarring knee strike to the head,
floored him with follow-up punches and mopped up what was left with
unanswered shots on the ground.
The 28-year-old Golm has rattled off three straight victories.
Finally, the unbeaten Jornel Lugo
kept his perfect professional record intact, as he put Keith Lee to
sleep with a rear-naked choke in their catchweight feature at 140
pounds. Lee (7-5, 2-2 Bellator) lost consciousness as the horn
sounded to conclude the first round.
Lugo (7-0, 4-0 Bellator) battered the Xtreme Couture rep with
repeated jabs, switched stances seamlessly and sat him down with a
counter right hand. Lee shot for an ill-advised takedown late in
the first round and immediately drifted into danger. Lugo wheeled around to his back, cinched the choke
and cut off avenues for escape, letting his squeeze do the
rest.
Lee, 24, has suffered back-to-back defeats.
In other action, Fabio
Aguiar (18-2, 1-1 Bellator) eked out a split decision—29-28,
28-29, 29-28—over Taylor
Johnson (7-3, 2-2 Bellator) in a three-round middleweight
confrontation; Mike Hamel
(8-5, 1-2 Bellator) took a unanimous decision from Bryce Logan
(12-6, 0-3 Bellator) in a three-round welterweight tilt, drawing
30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 marks from the cageside judges; Archie
Colgan (3-0, 1-0 Bellator) dismissed Sidney
Ben Simons (3-3, 0-1 Bellator) with punches and elbows 4:04 into the first round
of their welterweight scrap; Duane
Johnson (6-2, 1-0 Bellator) submitted Deven
Fisher (4-9, 0-1 Bellator) with a brabo choke 64 seconds into the first round
of their middleweight clash; and Bailey
Schoenfelder (2-0, 1-0 Bellator) put away Kory
Moegenburg (1-3, 0-1 Bellator) with elbows and punches 4:11 into the first round
of their heavyweight pairing.