Following from a tremendous card in the capital of Ireland, we had a new Champion, a new #1 contender at bantamweight, and the 3 Arena was rocking for the Irish fighters.
Bellator Champions Series came back to Dublin Ireland, previously September 2023, but returned to Belfast in March 2024. The Irish MMA fans are absolute fierce and ferocious when it comes to making noise. We will take a look at the results from the night.
NATE “THE GREAT” KELLY DEF: PAUL NOLAN
Nate Kelly is on a 3 fight winning streak all coming by submission. Last two wins have come by armbar, Training under Coach Kavanagh at SBG Ireland, Kelly is going to look to turn professional very soon. Bellator are promoting him very well since its unusual for them to do amateur bouts, but they see Nate Kelly has star potential.
MICHELLE MONTAGUE DEF: KAROLINA SOBEK
Michelle Montague was next up and she faced Polands Karolina Sobek, and she got the finish inside the first round via Rear-Naked-Choke in an incredible performance. The Aussie record now stands at 5-0 with 5 Rear-Naked-Chokes! That is her special weapon.
SHINOBU OTA DEF: ROGER BLANQUE
Shinobu Ota, who wrestled for Japan at the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro was taking on Spains Roger Blanque. Shinobu Ota secured the North-South choke to get his hand raised in his Bellator Debut. Not often you see a North-South choke happening!
SARVARJON KHAMIOV DEF: MARCIRLEY ALVES
Sarvarjon Khamidov and Marcirely Alves went the full 15 minutes and headed to the judges scorecards, with all three judges scoring it 30-27 to Khamidov, which moves him to 16-0.
KHASAN MAGOMEDSHARIPOV DEF: TYLER MATHISON
Khasan Magomedsharipov showed why he is the younger brother of former UFC prodigy Zabit Magomedsharipov, with this flashy spinning acrobatic kicks, and used his wrestling when he needed to, once again all three judges scored this bout 30-27 to Khasan to take him to 10-0
NATHAN KELLY DEF: JOSE SANCHEZ
Next up on the card was Dublins very own Nathan Kelly, who is “The Pride of the Northside” and he took on a short notice fight against Spains Jose Sanchez. Nathan used his footwork to control the fight and when Sanchez took Kelly down, he capitalised and got him in a tight Ninja Choke, in the first round. Kelly is demanding his name gets in the PFL $1million dollar tournament next year.
KASUM KASUMOV DEF: MATHEUS MATTOS
Kasum Kasumov and Matheus Mattos was a very interesting matchup, it seemed Kasumov started off slow but he picked his pace up throughout the entire fight cruising himself to a unanimous decision win, and now the #1 contender for Patchy Mix’s Bantamweight Title.
DARRAGH KELLY DEF: MATHIAS POIRON
Moville’s Darragh Kelly had a sublime first round performance over the french man. Kelly got a jumping guillotine locked in from the first minute of the fight and Poiron couldn’t defend it. He went out cold from the rather nasty guillotine that was locked in. Kelly demanded to Dan Hardy in the post fight interview that he wants to stay active. At 6-0 Darragh Kelly is another one to watch fighter to come from Ireland.
DALTON ROSTA DEF: NORBERT NOVENYI JR.
For me, this was fight of the night for sure! Both men going for it. Dalton Rosta controlled this fight and frustrated Novenyi Jr with his takedowns and control time. Although in the third and final round, Novenyi Jr finds his form and almost catches a finish. One way traffic in the third round and you could argue with a 10-8 round, which one judge scored it. The official decision was 29-28, 29,28 and 28-28 which led Rosta to win by Majority decision.
ARLENE BLENCOWE DEF: SINEAD KAVANAGH
This fight was another total slugfest! The crowd had erupted by this point as Conor McGregor walked out to be in Sinead Kavanagh’s corner. The Pair had previously fought seven years ago with Blencowe taking it by split-decision, so this was the rematch. First round, both women are swining bombs at each other! Blencowe put Kavanagh down with a huge right at the end of the first round. Second round, Blencowe drops Kavanagh again with a heavy right and finished the fight with a standing guillotine which silenced the 3Arena crowd.
PAUL HUGHES DEF: BOBBY KING
Former Cage Warriors Featherweight champion, Paul Hughes made his PFL/Bellator debut in front of his own fans, and he took own a tough veteran in Bobby King for his first fight. The first round was total chaos. King dropped Hughes with a jab but Hughes recovered very quickly and said he would never make that mistake again. He continued to beat Bobby King down with his relentless pressure, secured a takedown and controlled him there until he got the finish via nasty ground and pound. Hughes said that he wants to take Bellator back to Belfast.
RAMAZAN KURAMAGOMEDOV DEF: JASON JACKSON ©
In our only title fight of the night, we had Jamaicans Jason Jackson defending his belt versus Russias Ramazan Kuramagomedov. In a very close fight Ramazan Kuramagomedov took him the decision and was the New Bellator Welterweight champion of the world! The judges seen it as 48-47 to Kuramagomedov. It was a great fight none the less.
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