BIG takedown from Costello van Steenis on
Fabian Edwards in round !This tense main event is LIVE NOW on @channel5_tv.
#BellatorMilan pic.twitter.com/DnlZVKGwMq— Bellator Europe (@Bellator_Europe)
September 26, 2020
Costello
van Steenis knocked Fabian
Edwards from the ranks of the unbeaten at Bellator Milan on
Saturday at Allianz Cloud in Milan, Italy. It was Bellator’s first
event in Europe since the COVID-19 outbreak.
The middleweight contenders studied each other for the majority of
the first stanza, but it looked like it was van Steenis (13-2)
who deserved to take the round home, as he landed several brutal
leg kicks on Edwards’ (9-1) lead leg. In the second frame, “The Spaniard” landed the first takedown of the match,
dragging Edwards into a sticky situation thanks to an
almost-closed guillotine choke attempt. In the last few seconds of
Round 2, van Steenis landed several heavy shots of ground-and-pound
that almost ended the contest.
Those shots took their toll in the third stanza, as van
Steenis slowed his pace down. Edwards took advantage of the
situation and, after dragging his opponent to the canvas thanks to
an inside trip midway through the round, mauled “The Spaniard” for
the rest of the time. Eventually, two out of three judges gave the
victory to van Steenis.
In the co-main event, Mike
Shipman (14-3) and Pietro
Penini (9-2-1, 1 NC) collided in a 185-pound affair. Shipman
limited himself to the absolute minimum to win this fight, but it
was enough to take home a unanimous decision victory. Shipman
made Penini taste some of his notorious hard shots, while the
Italian fighter attempted to counter with the right blow that never
came. In the last minute of each round, Shipman also landed a
takedown and dominated his opponent on the canvas. After
Shipman, a former BAMMA champion, managed to snap a two-bout skid
in victory.
In the opening main card contest, Will Fleury
(8-3) edged Kent
Kauppinen (12-6) after dominating his opponent on the canvas
for all three rounds of their middleweight encounter. Eventually,
all three judges rewarded Kauppinen with a well-deserved
unanimous decision.
In preliminary action: George
Hardwick (6-1) overcame Nicolo
Solli (3-1) via unanimous decision at lightweight; Ion Pascu
(19-10) edged Stefano
Paterno (13-4-1) via unanimous decision at welterweight;
Daniele
Scatizzi (10-5) submitted Gavin
Hughes (10-2) in the first round thanks to a slick guillotine
choke at lightweight and Chiara
Penco (5-2) stopped
Aleksandra Toncheva Plamenova (2-2-1) via TKO at the 4:27
mark of the second round of a 115-pound clash.