How do you score the main event between
@RickyBandejas
and @SergioPettis?Here is the fight by the numbers: pic.twitter.com/wOZEw8JSCC
— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA)
July 25, 2020
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here and live stream 100+ fight nights a year. Sergio
Pettis apparently knew what he was doing when he jumped to a
promotion with no men’s flyweight division.
In the main event of Bellator 242 Friday night, his second outing
as a Bellator MMA bantamweight, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight
contender left Ricky
Bandejas in the dust. Speed, footwork and timing were the order
of the day, as Pettis walked down the much taller Bandejas to land
the heavier, more frequent strikes throughout. Pettis’ low kicks in
particular took a toll on Bandejas’ lead left leg, causing the New
Jersey native to favor that leg visibly by the middle of the second
round and buckling it badly at least once. Bandejas made a few
attempts to bring the fight to the floor, but aside from a takedown
late in the first round, was largely unsuccessful.
Going into the final round, Bandejas must have known he was down
two rounds to none. While he was more aggressive, however, he only
truly started swinging for the finish in the final minute; too late
to win the round, much less the fight. The judges awarded the fight
to Pettis, turning in unanimous—and well-deserved—30-27 scorecards
for the Milwaukee native, who is now 20-5 overall, 2-0 in his new
promotion and very much a part of the Bellator bantamweight title
picture. The loss ends a modest two-fight win streak for Bandejas,
who is now 13-4.
Jackson Spoils Mein’s Comeback
In the co-main event, Jason
Jackson made Jordan Mein’s
Bellator debut an unpleasant one, as he outclassed “Young Gun” in
all phases en route to a unanimous decision. Mein, who was fighting
for the first time since his departure from the UFC two years ago,
never really got untracked, looking out of rhythm in the early
going and tired late. Jackson’s advantage in hand and foot speed
was a telling factor throughout, and he denied Mein’s takedown
attempts emphatically. By the final bell, Mein was still game, but
wearing damage to his legs and arm, and the unanimous 30-27
scorecards did not indicate how one-sided the action was. The win
sends “The Ass-Kicking Machine” to 12-4, while putting his close
decision loss to Ed Ruth in his
own Bellator debut further in the rearview. Mein—who left the UFC
on a two-fight win streak—falls to 31-13.
Wilson Slips by Claxton
Jay-Jay
Wilson passed the biggest test of his career, edging out fellow
featherweight up-and-comer Tywan
Claxton by split decision (30-27, 29-28. 27-30). After a
frenetic first round that appeared to go the way of Wilson, the
second and third rounds were largely dominated by Claxton’s
suffocating pressure against the fence. Late in the third round,
Wilson jumped guard with a flying triangle choke that, while it
didn’t appear to be seriously threatening, had Claxton very much on
the defensive until the horn. The split verdict might not have been
surprising in light of the hard-to-score second and third rounds,
but the pair of dueling 30-27 scorecards for each fighter were
curious, to say the least. Regardless of the head-scratching
particulars, Wilson’s win—his first fight to go the
distance—propels the New Zealander to 6-0, five of those wins
coming inside the Bellator cage. Claxton (6-2) has now lost two of
three after starting his career 5-0.
Pico Throttles Hatley
In the main card opener, Aaron Pico
delivered the most complete performance of his career to date as
well as one of the most dominant, crushing Chris Hatley, Jr. just 2
minutes and 10 seconds into their featherweight matchup. Onetime
uber-prospect Pico hoisted “Solo” with a single-leg 30 seconds in,
bringing him back to the canvas with a resounding slam. From there,
he never gave Hatley a moment to breathe, working to pass his guard
while landing vicious short punches. After a final salvo of
ground-and-pound caused Hatley to turn away, Pico moved to Hatley’s
back, sunk in both hooks and applied a rear-naked choke. Pico
squeezed as he flattened Hatley with his hips, and the tap came in
seconds. The dominant win brings the 23-year-old Pico to 6-3 and
gets his relationship with new gym Jackson-Wink MMA off to a great
start. Hatley falls to 8-3 and sees his two-fight win streak come
to an end.
Lemminger Mauls Smith
In the featured preliminary bout, Mark
Lemminger made the best of a tough situation, steamrolling late
replacement Jake Smith
on the way to a second-round TKO. Smith, whose previous fights in
Bellator were both contested at 155 pounds, stepped up to
welterweight on a week’s notice when Logan
Storley withdrew due to injury. Lemminger grounded Smith early
and often, advancing position and landing punishing
ground-and-pound. Lemminger ended the first round in full mount,
pummeling Smith to punctuate an arguably 10-8 beating. He picked up
right where he left off in the second, but turned it up in the
final minute, landing a stream on unanswered right hands from half
guard at the base of the fence until referee Kevin
MacDonald was forced to intervene. The one-sided beating by
Lemminger ended officially at 4:46 of Round 2, sending the debuting
27-year-old to 11-1. The valiant but outsized and overmatched Smith
falls to 7-4 (1-2 Bellator).
Stots Strangles Bell
Red-hot bantamweight Raufeon
Stots extended his win streak to six, outgrappling Cass Bell for
two rounds before putting him away early in the third. The first
two frames were deliberate affairs, characterized by Stots’
takedowns and clinch pressure against the fence, while Bell did a
credible job of denying Stots dominant positions. In the final
round, however, Stots flipped the switch, ducking under a punch for
a lightning-quick takedown and an even faster back take. From
there, he cinched up a rear-naked choke, getting the tap at 1:24 of
the third round. The dominant win moves Stots to 16-1, 2-0 since
stepping up to Bellator from Legacy Fighting Alliance, while Bell’s first
career setback leaves him at 5-1.
Hylton Edges Schaffroth
In the opening bout of the evening, Ras Hylton,
who made his Bellator debut on three days’ notice when Steve Mowry
tested positive for COVID-19, turned back fellow heavyweight
Rudy
Schaffroth. Schaffroth dropped Hylton with a short one-two in
the first, passed to mount, but was unable to do much with the
position from there. The second round was Hylton’s best, as he
stayed on the outside and tagged a tiring Schaffroth with a steady
stream of kicks to the legs and body. The final round started out
offering more of the same, until Schaffroth grounded Hylton with a
double-leg halfway through the round. However, once there,
Schaffroth seemed content to hold Hylton down, neither doing damage
nor advancing position, as Hylton smacked him with punches and
elbows from the bottom. In the end, the judges gave the fight to
“Jamaican Shamrock” by unanimous 29-28 scorecards. Hylton moves to
6-4, while Schaffroth falls to 6-2.