.@sergiopettis
OUTTA NOWHERE!What a way to end the 2021 Bellator MMA season LIVE on @SHOsports.
#Bellator272 pic.twitter.com/g8Kstu4E3v— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA)
December 4, 2021
The situation looked bleak for Sergio
Pettis. Then lightning struck.
The
Roufusport mainstay retained the undisputed Bellator
MMA bantamweight championship, as he knocked out Kyoji
Horiguchi with a spinning backfist in the fourth round of their
Bellator 272 headliner on Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in
Uncasville, Connecticut. Pettis (22-5, 4-0 Bellator) brought it to
a shocking conclusion 3:24 into Round 4.
Horiguchi (29-4, 1-1 Bellator) had command of all of his pitches
and kept the Milwaukee native off-balance with darting lateral
movements. The Japanese star battered Pettis’ lead leg with kicks,
punctuated his combinations with powerful overhand rights, mixed in
a handful of spinning back kicks to the body and incorporated
strategic takedowns in the first, second and third rounds. None of
it mattered. A little more than midway through Round 4, Pettis
pushed the
American Top Team rep toward the fence and uncorked a head kick
at close range. Horiguchi ducked out of danger, only to be
blindsided by the spinning backfist that followed. The impact
turned out his lights and sent him crashing to the canvas, the
unwitting victim in one of the most spectacular finishes of
2021.
Pettis, 28, will ride a five-fight winning streak into his next
title defense.
Meanwhile,
Xtreme Couture’s Jeremy
Kennedy leaned on repeated takedowns and stifling positional
control, as he laid claim to a unanimous decision over Emmanuel
Sanchez in the three-round featherweight co-main event. Kennedy
(17-3, 2-1 Bellator) swept the scorecards with 30-27 marks from all
three judges, bouncing back from an April 9 decision defeat to
Adam
Borics.
Sanchez (20-7, 12-6 Bellator) had few answers, though he managed to
open a cut under the Canadian’s right eye with an elbow strike from
the bottom. Kennedy otherwise dictated the terms of their
engagement, assumed top position in all three rounds and kept
himself stapled to the Duke Roufus protégé. He progressed to
Sanchez’s back in Round 2 and again in Round 3, making passes at
arm-triangles and rear-naked chokes while bleeding valuable time
off the clock.
The 31-year-old Sanchez has suddenly lost three fights in a
row.
Elsewhere, former Aggression MMA champion Josh Hill
rebounded from a May 7 decision defeat to Raufeon
Stots and punched out Jared
Scoggins in the second round of their bantamweight feature.
Scoggins (10-2, 0-1 Bellator)—who missed weight for the match by
four pounds—hit the deck 56 seconds into Round 2, suffering his
first setback since Feb. 17, 2017.
The 35-year-old Hill (21-4, 3-1 Bellator) answered jabs and
occasional power punches from his adversary with a steady diet of
leg kicks and a late takedown in the first round. Early in the
second, he walked Scoggins into a devastating overhand
right that dropped the South Carolinian in an unconscious heap.
No follow-up shots were required.
Hill has rattled off five victories across his past six
appearances.
Finally, undefeated American Top Team prospect Johnny
Eblen kept his perfect professional record intact and did so in
rousing fashion, as he put away former
Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder Collin
Huckbody with punches in the first round of their middleweight
showcase. Huckbody (10-4, 0-1 Bellator) succumbed to blows 71
seconds into Round 1.
Eblen (10-0, 6-0 Bellator) wasted neither time nor effort. He
clipped Huckbody with a powerful left hook at close range, swarmed
with follow-up punches and drove his counterpart to the floor. From
there, Eblen unleashed his ground-and-pound, allowed
the
Dana White’s Contender Series alum to stand in a defensive
shell and continued to cut loose with punches until referee Bryan
Miner saw fit to intervene.
The 29-year-old Eblen now has six first-round finishes to his
credit.
In other action, Alexandr
Shabliy (21-3, 2-0 Bellator) cruised to a three-round unanimous
verdict over Bobby King
(10-4, 1-1 Bellator) in the featured lightweight prelim; Kai Kamaka
III (9-4-1, 3-0 Bellator) pocketed a unanimous decision—29-28,
29-28, 29-28—over John de
Jesus (14-10, 2-2 Bellator) in a three-round featherweight
scrap; Levan
Chokheli (10-1, 1-1 Bellator) captured a unanimous decision
against Vinicius
de Jesus (9-5, 3-3 Bellator) in a three-round welterweight
encounter, sweeping the cards with 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 scores;
Justin
Montalvo (4-0, 1-0 Bellator) laid claim to a unanimous verdict
over Jacob Bohn
(10-8, 0-1 Bellator) in a three-round lightweight battle, earning
29-27, 29-28 and 29-28 marks from the cageside judges; Mike Hamel
(9-5, 2-2 Bellator) escaped with a split decision—28-29, 29-28,
30-27—over Killys Mota
(12-3, 1-2 Bellator) in a three-round lightweight affair; Spike
Carlyle (13-3, 1-0 Bellator) put Dan Moret
(15-7, 1-1 Bellator) to sleep with a rear-naked choke 2:58 into the third round
of their catchweight clash at 160 pounds; and Kyle
Crutchmer (8-1, 4-1 Bellator) took a unanimous decision from
Oliver
Enkamp (10-3, 3-1 Bellator) in a three-round welterweight tilt,
drawing 30-27 scores across the board.