In a rematch of their thrilling bout five months ago, Darrion Caldwell avenged the first loss of his career by defeating Joe Taimanglo via decision at Bellator 167.
Caldwell was in control of his first match for two rounds against Taimanglo in July. In the third round, Taimanglo was able to get Caldwell on the ground and put him into a guillotine choke for the submission for his fourth straight victory.
Here are the full results and recap from Saturday’s fights:
Results
Darrion Caldwell def. Joe Taimanglo
In addition to avenging his loss from earlier this year, Caldwell appears to have put himself in the bantamweight title picture against Eduardo Dantas, via Bellator MMA on Twitter:
Dantas defeated Joe Warren by majority decision on Friday night, so Bellator certainly has the timing worked out for the top two bantamweights in the promotion to square off at some point in 2017.
Caldwell is a wrestler who has some submission skills in his arsenal. He didn’t show them often against Taimanglo, who is a submission specialist, but his ability to work the ground was able to push him over the top in the rematch.
This is the moment Caldwell has slowly been building toward. He debuted with Bellator in 2014, winning his first six matches before the setback against Taimanglo. Exorcising that one demon was the final hurdle before the championship match would come calling.
Now that it’s almost here, Caldwell has just one more hurdle to clear before getting his spotlight.
John Teixeira def. Justin Lawrence
John Teixeira keeps rolling along, earning his fourth Bellator win in as many fights with a unanimous-decision triumph over Justin Lawrence.
There’s nothing sexy about the way Teixeira fights. All of his wins in Bellator have come via decision, though this was his first unanimous score from the judges. This was his first match since September 2015, so it was a good way to work himself back into featherweight title contention.
While Lawrence will be disappointed with a second loss in his last three fights, he does at least have a reasonable explanation. Pat Curran was originally scheduled to fight Teixeira but was forced to withdraw due to an injury.
Lawrence took the fight on short notice and was able to last all three rounds, albeit without much success. It’s a defeat that goes on his record, but it’s not one that is going to be held against him in the long run.
Ilima-Lei MacFarlane def. Emily Ducote
Ilima-Lei MacFarlane kept her perfect record intact with a unanimous-decision victory over Emily Ducote.
MacFarlane is still in the embryonic stages of her MMA career. Saturday marked her fifth professional fight, though she was starting to acclimate herself well with consecutive submission wins at Bellator 148 and Bellator 157.
While Ducote was able to last all three rounds against MacFarlane, the 26-year-old continued to impress and even added some wrinkles to her arsenal, via Bellator MMA on Twitter:
MacFarlane endured her most grueling year yet as a fighter with three matches since January. She pulled through all of them with impressive wins and has set herself up nicely for a big run in 2017.
Chidi Njokuani def. Andre Fialho
The main card got off to a rousing start with Chidi Njokuani knocking out Andre Fialho in 21 seconds.
Fialho was dropped with a quick jab, with Njokuani immediately pouncing with a flurry of punches on the ground before the referee called for the bell, via Bellator MMA on Twitter:
Njokuani‘s 21-second knockout marked the fastest in Bellator since November 4 when Javy Ayala ended things with Sergei Kharitonov in 16 seconds. The win brings Njokuani‘s record in Bellator to 3-0 with back-to-back KO finishes.
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