Sergio
Pettis’ time has come.
Crisp jabs and clean counters carried the Roufusport standout to a
unanimous decision over Juan
Archuleta, as he captured the undisputed Bellator MMA
bantamweight championship in the Bellator 258 headliner on Friday
at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. All three
cageside judges scored it for Pettis (21-5, 3-0 Bellator): 50-45,
49-46 and 49-46.
Archuleta (25-3, 7-2 Bellator) spent much of the fight playing into
the challenger’s strengths. Pettis’ used the Californian’s
aggression against him, snapping back his head with stinging jabs
and sharp counterpunches from both hands. Even when Archuleta
turned to takedowns, he failed to consolidate them with positional
control or ground-and-pound.
Pettis will carry a four-fight winning streak into his first title
defense.
Meanwhile, Anthony
Johnson leveled
Jose Augusto Azevedo Barros with a devastating right hand and
sealed the deal with a follow-up hammerfist in the second round of
their co-main event. In his first appearance in more than four
years, Johnson (23-6, 1-0 Bellator) brought it to a close 90
seconds into Round 2 and punched his ticket to the Bellator light
heavyweight grand prix semifinals.
A short-notice substitution for Yoel Romero,
Barros (7-3, 1-1 Bellator) did not go quietly despite injuring his
right hand inside the first five minutes. He staggered Johnson with
a left hook in the first round, pounced for a potential finish and
threatened with a rear-naked choke before squandering his position.
Barros’ failure to close out the Dublin, Georgia, native, proved
costly. Johnson uncorked a concussive right hand early in Round 2,
as the impact sent the Brazilian careening backward before he
bounced off the canvas in a semi-conscious state. “Rumble” mopped
up what was left with one final hammerfist.
Johnson, 37, will face reigning Bellator champion Vadim
Nemkov in the semifinals of the light heavyweight grand
prix.
Elsewhere, SBG Ireland’s Peter
Queally hacked open a gnarly gash with a slashing elbow strike
from the bottom and prompted a doctor stoppage against Patricky
Freire in between the second and third rounds of their
lightweight showcase. The cageside physician advised referee Kerry
Hatley to wave it off prior to the start of Round 3.
Freire (23-10, 14-8 Bellator) beat up the Irishman’s lead leg with
ferocious kicks, pieced together multi-punch combinations and
targeted the head and body with equal aplomb. Late in the second
round, the Pitbull Brothers rep looked to extend his lead and
executed a takedown in the center of the cage. Queally (13-5-1, 2-1
Bellator) answered with a series of elbows to the head, one of
which resulted in the fight-ending cut.
Queally, 32, has rattled off three victories across his last four
outings.
Finally, London Shootfighters star Michael
Page rearranged Derek
Anderson’s face with a head kick and forced a doctor stoppage
in between the first and second rounds of their catchweight feature
at 175 pounds. The defeat snapped a three-fight winning streak for
Anderson (17-4, 8-4 Bellator).
Page (19-1, 15-1 Bellator) picked his shots, lured the Team Xplode
MMA export into his trap and let his skills do the rest. A lead-leg
head kick staggered Anderson in the middle of the cage and left him
with a badly disfigured nose late in the first round. He survived
to see the end of the period, but once the cageside physician
examined the damage, he was declared unfit to continue.
The 34-year-old Page has won five fights in a row, four of them by
knockout.
In other action, Raufeon
Stots (16-1, 4-0 Bellator) took a unanimous decision from
Josh
Hill (20-4, 2-1 Bellator) in a three-round bantamweight scrap,
drawing 30-27 scores from all three judges; Lorenz
Larkin (23-7, 5-2 Bellator) eked out a split decision—29-28,
28-29, 29-28—over Rafael
Carvalho (16-6, 7-5 Bellator) in a three-round middleweight
battle; Patrick Mix
(14-1, 3-1 Bellator) submitted Albert
Morales (10-7-1, 2-1 Bellator) with an arm-triangle choke 2:40
into the third round of their bantamweight tilt; Johnny
Eblen (8-0, 4-0 Bellator) chopped down Daniel
Madrid (18-7, 1-1 Bellator) with punches 2:44 into the first
round of their middleweight affair; Johnny
Campbell (21-13, 1-0 Bellator) submitted Henry
Corrales (18-6, 6-6 Bellator) with a rear-naked choke 4:12 into
the second round of their bantamweight pairing; Johnny Soto
(4-1, 1-0 Bellator) laid claim to a unanimous decision over
Weber
Almeida (5-1, 3-1 Bellator) in a three-round featherweight
clash, sweeping the scorecards with 29-27, 29-28 and 29-28 nods
across the board; and Erik Perez
(20-8, 1-2 Bellator) was awarded a unanimous verdict over Blaine
Shutt (8-5, 0-1 Bellator) in a three-round bantamweight
encounter, earning 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27 scores from the cageside
judges.