Johnny
Eblen called himself “Diamond Hands” and then “The Human Cheat
Code.” He can now call himself Bellator
MMA world champion.
Eblen remained unbeaten as a pro by thoroughly dominating Gegard
Mousasi for five rounds in the main event of
Bellator 282 Friday night inside Mohegan Sun to snatch the
latter’s middleweight title via unanimous decision on Showtime. And
Eblen made it look almost too easy.
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Eblen (12-0) dropped Mousasi with a sharp right hook to the jaw
seconds into the fight and he never looked back. Eblen scored
takedown after takedown throughout the course of five full rounds
and never allowed “The Dreamcatcher” to get his world-class
striking going. Eblen traded Mousasi jabs for right hooks and leg
kicks for takedowns. As the fight wore on, Eblen got stronger and
more dominant while the defending champion withered and looked
every bit 36 years of age.
Mousasi (49-8-2) has beaten a who’s who of combat sports over the
course of his illustrious career and captured world titles for
Strikeforce,
Bellator and countless others, but the relatively unknown Eblen
never let any of the Dutch fighter’s legacy deter him. Eblen
implemented a perfect gameplan and his dominance of one of the best
fighters in MMA history was a thing of beauty. Eblen won by the
shockingly lopsided scores of 50-45 across the board to score what
was easily the greatest victory of his young career.
Chicago native Danny
Sabatello talked a ton of trash leading up to his Bellator
Bantamweight World Grand Prix quarterfinal battle against Leandro
Higo and he backed it up. Too bad for the fight fans watching
the matchup, the fight was anything but memorable. Sabatello (13-1)
landed a few leg kicks and jabs here and there, but the
overwhelming majority of the fight saw him take Higo down, avoid
the arm-in guillotine and do some damage inside the Brazilian’s
guard. “The Italian Gangster” scored 11 takedowns and avoided 11
guillotines over the course of five rounds, causing the crowd to
boo mercilessly for nearly the entirety of the 25 allotted minutes.
Sabatello dominated Higo (21-6) and won a lopsided unanimous
decision with scores of 49-46 across the board and will move on to
face interim bantamweight titleholder Raufeon
Stots in the tournament’s semifinals.
In the first bout of the Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix
Friday, it was Magomed
Magomedov who prevailed against Enrique
Barzola during a grueling war of attrition. Barzola (18-6-2)
landed plenty of stinging punches to the head and scored a number
of takedowns in the bout, but over time, Magomedov’s pressure and
endurance was too much for the Peruvian to overcome. Barzola seemed
to largely be in control of the action throughout, but Magomedov
(19-2) began landing crushing hooks to the body and scattered
punches upstairs, some of which hurt Barzola late in the third.
Barzola backed the Russian off early in the fourth with two stiff
jabs, but when his ensuing takedown attempt was stuffed,
“Tiger” snatched up a guillotine, dropped down to his back and
locked it in. Barzola couldn’t escape and bowed at at 1:27 of
the stanza, allowing Magomedov to head to the tournament’s
semifinals against Patrick
Mix.
Brennan
Ward was gone from MMA for five years but returned with a win a
few months back and was looking to continue to build upon his
comeback from drug addiction. Against Kassius
Kayne (12-8), it was fairly easy for “Irish” Brennan as he
stopped his welterweight foe in the second. Ward (16-6) staggered
Kayne with left hooks twice in the first round and dominated him
with punches and elbows on the ground. Ward continued his dominance
in the second as he
staggered “Killa” with a left hook to the face and finished him off
with punches against the cage. Referee Marc Goddard
had to intervene during the onslaught, stopping the drubbing at
1:11 of the stanza.
In preliminary action, Killys Mota
capped off a stellar undercard by outslugging Dan Moret over
three wild lightweight rounds to win a unanimous decision (30-27
x3); featherweight prospect Lucas
Brennan took out Johnny Soto
via
neck crank at 3:34 of the first; lightweight Alexandr
Shabliy stopped former titleholder Brent
Primus with
punches at 1:22 of the second; longtime veteran featherweight
Cat
Zingano dominated Pam
Sorenson over three rounds for an easy unanimous decision
(29-26, 29-27 x2); Anatoly
Tokov knocked out Muhammad
Abdullah with
punches at 2:28 of the first at middleweight; Sabah
Homasi torched Maycon
Mendonca with
one punch in just 58 seconds of their welterweight encounter;
Ilara
Joanne outpointed Alejandra
Lara via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-27 x2) at flyweight;
James
Gonzalez upended fellow featherweight Cody Law via
unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 30-26); middleweight Aaron
Jeffery took out Fabio
Aguiar via
knee and punches at 3:30 of the second; and Mandel
Nallo blasted out Bryce Logan
with a single blow in just 67 seconds of their lightweight
tussle.