Things didn’t go exactly as planned for Bellator at the Androscoggin Bank Colisée in Lewiston, Maine. The scheduled main event, a welterweight tournament final between Ben Saunders and Douglas Lima, had to be postponed after Lima broke his hand. Another high-profile television fight, this one between Brett Rogers and Eric Prindle, was also cancelled at the last minute when Prindle was forced to pull out due to an injury.
That left Dave Jansen and Marcin Held as the last two men standing. The two had actually been scheduled to compete for a shot at lightweight champion Michael Chandler last September after the bout was unexpectedly cancelled when the 20-year-old Held was prohibited from entering the Horseshoe Hammond Casino in Hammond, Ind.
Jansen made up for lost time in Maine, negating Held’s dangerous leglock submissions and outworking him on the way to a unanimous decision. It may have taken six months longer than planned, and his Season 7 tournament win may have actually occurred in Season 8 but the victory earned the 33-year-old wrestler, now 20-2, a shot at Chandler’s Bellator title, making him the night’s clear winner.
But Jansen wasn’t the evening’s only winner, and Held wasn’t the sole loser. And, crazily enough, sometimes in mixed martial arts a fighter can be both at the same time by winning a fight but doing so in a lackluster fashion that costs the athlete the support of both fans and promoters.
So who were the real winners and losers on Thursday? Click on to find out.