The Bellator
MMA middleweight championship is no longer vacant. Fighting for
the belt previously held by Rafael
Lovato Jr. were former 185-pound champion Gegard
Mousasi and current welterweight champion Douglas
Lima. In the end, Mousasi’s hands were raised at the end of
Bellator 250.
The superior grappling of Mousasi (47-7-2) was the story early as
he took Lima (32-8) down and easily controlled the first round. The
next three frames were contested on the feet, which saw Mousasi
show off his slick jab and Lima was uncharacteristically tentative.
Round 5 saw Mousasi go back to his grappling to secure the fight in
his favor. After five rounds, Mousasi was awarded a unanimous
decision (48-47, 49-46 and 49-46) and became a two-time
middleweight champion in the promotion.
The co-main event saw Henry
Corrales defeat Brandon
Girtz. Corrales (18-5) was able to slightly outland Girtz
(16-10) on the feet in what was a competitive bout spanning all
three rounds. Two judges awarded “OK” the fight with 30-27
scorecards, while a third inexplicably gave the fight to Girtz
(30-27).
Middleweights Dalton
Rosta and Ty Gwerder
opened the main card. The wrestling of Rosta (4-0) proved to be too
much for Gwerder (5-2). The Pennsylvania fighter was able to
complete several takedowns and controlled the fight with ease. “Hercules” capped off a dominant performance by gaining mount in
Round 3 and took home a unanimous decision with scores of 30-27
across the board.
In preliminary action, All Elite Wrestling star Jake Hager
(3-0, 1 NC) fought through adversity to earn a split decision
verdict (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) over Brandon
Calton (2-1); Sabah
Homasi (15-8)
landed a devastating flying knee that took out Bobby
Voelker (33-14) 20 seconds into Round 2; Johnny
Eblen (7-0) kept his undefeated record intact by earning a
unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27) over Taylor
Johnson (6-2); Adam
Borics (16-1) won a unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
over Erick
Sanchez (9-6) at a 150-pound catchweight; and in the opening
bout of the night, Cody Law
submitted Orlando
Ortega
with a D’Arce choke at 2:41 of Round 1.