Bellator MMA has a new No. 1 contender in the women’s featherweight division.
Fan-favorite Leah McCourt faced off against unbeaten Sarah Collins in the main event of Bellator London. “The Curse” Collins came out looking to throw a jab, but Collins (6-0) struck first. The Australian dropped McCourt (8-4) with a well-timed right hook. McCourt survived some ground-and-pound, but Collins got her to her back and secured a rear-naked choke for the submission victory.
The tap came just two minutes and 25 seconds into the first round, setting up a potential matchup with “Cyborg” Cristiane Justino.
Powell wins against Xavier
In the light heavyweight co-main event, Simeon Powell bounced back from the first loss of his career. Powell (10-1) was aggressive on the stand, but Rafael Xavier landed a perfect front kick and quickly took him down. More trouble awaited him in the closing seconds, when a left hook from Xavier (13-8) took the London native down. Powell settled in at the start of the second round and won on the stand as the much stronger fighter. But Xavier came storming back in the final five minutes, making the final round a tough battle to score.
The judges, unsurprisingly, gave the fight a split decision, with two of the three bouts awarded to Powell by scores of 29-28.
Trainer RNC Urbonavicius
Bellator’s light heavyweight division was highlighted by Luke Trainor’s dominant win over Laurinas Urbonavicius.
Trainor (9-1) struggled with “Captain Lithuania” early on, taking him down with a well-timed left hook, before “The Gent” managed to get behind Urbonavicius (14-2), and the 28-year-old British boxer ultimately earned the victory by submission via rear-naked choke.
The tap officially came at 4 minutes, 15 seconds into the first round.
Diakies beats Wild
The main card opened with a lightweight bout between two veterans, Mark Diakies and Tim Wilde.
Both fighters came out looking to attack, but Diakiese (18-7) showed his versatile game by taking down Wilde (17-6-1) late in the first round to gain mount position. Having gained the advantage with his wrestling, “The Bonecrusher” reverted to grappling as the bout progressed and dominated the second round. Wilde finally found success in the final round, landing some hard punches as Diakiese tired, but it was too late.
After 15 minutes of fighting, Diakiese won all three bouts by unanimous decision with the scorecards reading 29-28.
Bellator London Preliminary Results:
In the prelims, Archie Colgan (11-0) dominated Manoel Souza (11-1) over three rounds to remain unbeaten with a unanimous decision victory (30-27, 29-28, 29-28). Mike Shipman (17-4) overpowered Eslam Abdul Bassett Shah (16-3) with well-timed knees and punches to win by TKO 2:32 into the second round. Joseph Luciano (9-2) submitted Steven Hill (7-2) with an anaconda choke 1:22 into the second round. Ciaran Clark (10-0) remained unbeaten with a unanimous decision victory over Tuomas Gronvall (12-8-1) in a 140-pound catchweight bout by scores of 30-26, 30-27, 30-27. Darragh Kelly (7-0) grappled and defeated fellow lightweight Dmitry Hrytsenko (9-1) by unanimous decision, 30-26 on the scorecards, after being penalized for several low blows.
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