Bellator 240 ‘Primus Vs Bungard’ Recap & Highlights!

Primus vs Bungard | Bellator MMA

Bellator 240 ‘Primus vs Bungard’ aired Saturday (Feb. 22, 2020) from 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland. MMA Mania brings you a post-fight recap, results, .gifs and interviews from another big show!

Bellator 240 “Primus vs. Bungard” took place Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020 at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland. Former champion Brent Primus (9-1) faced Chris Bungard (15-5) at a catchweight of 160 lbs. due to Bungard missing weight.

Bungard proved to be no match for Primus on the ground, a BJJ black belt and professional trainer when he’s not fighting, and once he took the back and sunk in the neck crank it was all over at 1:55 of round one. Surprisingly no post-fight interview followed.

Also fighting at a catch weight of 160 lbs. were Kiefer Crosbie (7-1) and Imaik Furtado (6-1). Three rounds didn’t prove to be decisive for either fighter, which led to Crosbie narrowly edging out a split decision of 29-28 X2 and 28-29. A post-fight interview followed.

“Man four days ago a king was born, my son Conor Crosbie. He was born on fight week so he was born a champion. This fight is for me kids. I did it. I fought through it. I knew he was a good fighter and a beast. I always seem to get these big units. I took the first and the second. The third was close but I feel like I won.”

“Rowdy” Bec Rawlings (7-9) always delivers an exciting slugfest, but would that alone be enough to push her past Elina Kallionidou (7-3) at Flyweight?

Rawlings vowed that she had never been better prepared for a fight before this one, and it showed in her opening flurry followed by a takedown at 11 seconds. She fished for multiple submissions throughout the round, and even when Rawlings got swept and Kallionidou fished for an armbar, Rawlings swept right back on top and controlled the fight. A solid 10-9 opening round for “Rowdy” Rawlings.

Kallionidou started out the second round strong with landing right hands and was even searching for a triangle when the fight was on the ground, but Rawlings slipped out and was doing more damage late, even securing a rear naked choke that might have finished Kallionidou if she hadn’t been saved by the bell. After a third round finished almost the same way the judges scored it 30-27 X2 and 29-28 for Rawlings by unanimous decision. A visibly excited Rawlings spoke to “The Punk” Josh Thomson afterward.

“I had it sunk in (in R2), there were only a few seconds over, I thought the ref called it but he said ‘Nah get up.’ This is awesome, thank you. I came to the last event here and I walked into this arena with my friend, I felt the energy and I said ‘I’m fucking fighting here.’”

Ricky Bandejas (12-3) faced local favorite Frans Mlambo (8-4) at Featherweight. Bandejas had some success with leg kicks, but not nearly as much as Frans Mlambo had with his right hand. A couple of times Bandejas seemed to slip or get knocked off balance, but in the latter half of the round a right dropped Bandejas on his butt and had Mlambo taking his back hunting for a rear naked choke. He didn’t secure it but he clearly dominated Round 1.

“The Black Mamba” may have been overconfident as a result because he came forward with his hands and feet, then mouthed off to Bandejas as if daring him to hit him with his best shot. Bandejas did exactly that by throwing two right hands to the chin, and the second slumped Mlambo and crashed him to the canvas. A couple of hammer fists landed before Todd Anderson made the save.

The time of the knockout was 1:25 of Round 2 and “The Punk” Josh Thomson stepped in to speak with the winner of the contest.

“Yeah in the beginning he caught me big time so I was looking to set him up with it. All week man, worst weight cut, I’ve been sick all day but guess what? I came out here and I got it done. Give me another SBG (fighter), anybody. It don’t matter man.”

The opening fight on Paramount Network was Oliver Enkamp (8-2) vs. Lewis Long (17-5) at Welterweight.

Enkamp brought the nickname “The Future” to the fight and did his best to make “The Foot” Long look like the past by rushing him at the opening bell. Enkamp was attacking at range with a variety of strikes and in closer quarters with knees and left hands. His best strike was a spinning backfist that dropped Long and resulted in a knockout win at 4:10 of Round 1. A post-fight interview with Josh Thomson followed.

“So we practiced a lot of techniques coming from my left, and I tried to exploit on that, and I do a lot of the spinning techniques. I would go to the body first a couple of times but I saw the opportunity and tried it. We just exited the grappling exchange and these spinning techniques are pretty easy to find your power in because you don’t raise your arms that much. My arms were pretty tired from the grappling.”

Rising Featherweight star Leah McCourt (3-1) took on the veteran Judith Ruis (6-4) in the Channel 5 (UK) main event. “Strabanimal” James Gallagher had a few thoughts about it.

McCourt used kickboxing and judo techniques to control the fight, using her height and reach advantage to strike at distance then throw Ruis to the ground when she got close. McCourt had a bit of a scare when Ruis swept to the top in full mount, McCourt tried to roll free by pushing off the fence with her feet, and nearly got caught in an armbar in response. She was able to turn around and pull free and finished the first round in a mount on top.

Ruis was able to spin out of a body triangle fishing for a rear naked choke by McCourt and spent at least half of the round on top, but she did very little with the position offensively. A judge could find reason to score it either way. McCourt got a takedown 20 seconds into Round 3 and was able to stand up and find better positions when the action slowed down, then scored a late takedown to finish the fight and earn a 29-28 X2, 30-27 unanimous decision. She spoke to Josh “The Punk” Thomson afterward.

“Yeah she was tough. I had to calm and not rush. Honestly it’s been intense, every emotion, crying one moment happy the next but I knew I’d get the job done.”

“Relentless” Charlie Ward (7-4) hoped to make short work of Kyle “The Hurts” Kurtz (10-7) at 185 lbs. Ward opened the first and second round in the exact same manner — he stood in the middle and invited Kurtz to bang with him. When Kurtz would not provide the striking exchange he desired, Ward would throw him to the ground and pummel him in full guard. The biggest change was an elbow at the end of round two right at the bell, one that opened up a nice cut on Kurtz. He’d need a huge third round comeback to change the result.

Kurtz did more than his share of hurting for the remainder of the contest, having more cuts opened up thanks to the power of Ward’s hands, forcing a doctor to step in and clean up the blood to make sure he could continue. Although Kurtz got the all clear referee Leon Roberts was concerned about the pummeling he was taking and warned him to fight back, finally stepping in to end the fight via TKO at 4:24. No post-fight interview followed.

Geordie Shore fan favorite Aaron Chalmers (5-1) took on Missouri fighter Austin Clem (3-1) in his first Bellator MMA bout at Welterweight. Chalmers was effective in the early going with a body kick and a couple of knees, but Clem did as he had promised and got a takedown which put Chalmers on his butt. Chalmers scooted backward to the fence to wall walk but Clem took him down again and kept him grounded for the remainder of round one.

The second round went even worse for Chalmers as Clem got a quick transition from the takedown to full mount, sitting on top of Chalmers for well over four minutes. Try as he might Chalmers could not shake him off and when he moved he only wound up closer to the center of the cage in even deeper waters. It was an easy 10-9 in Clem’s favor. The third round was almost identical to the second so here’s a taste of how they both looked.

The judges scored the fight 30-27 X2 and 30-26 all in favor of Austin Clem. No post-fight interview followed but Clem’s performance made all the statement that he needed to.

For complete Bellator 240/Dublin results and coverage click here.