The main event for Bellator 177 hit a speed bump before it began, as title challenger Leandro Higo missed weight on Thursday, making the bout a non-title fight.
But that didn’t take anything away from the bantamweight champion, Eduardo Dantas, who defeated Higo via split decision in a less than stellar fight.
Higo started out the fight sluggish, almost afraid to generate any offense. Dantas was too quick for his opponent and kept the fight on the outside for the majority of it. The best part of the fight came in the final 30 seconds of the third and final round when Dantas pulled off a well-executed spinning back-kick, although it did seemingly no damage.
In terms of style points, it’s what you want to see from dynamic strikers.
Dantas was the better fighter all night, but he somehow lost on one scorecard. It didn’t matter, as he won 30-27 on the other two scorecards. While the main event didn’t live up to the hype, the prelims sure didn’t disappoint.
Main card results:
Adam Borics def. Anthony Taylor via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:12
Lena Ovchynnikova def. Helen Harper via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) – Round 2, 5:00
Daniel Weichel def. John Teixeira via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Eduardo Dantas def. Leandro Higo via split decision (30-27, 30-27, 28-29)
Borics makes quick work of Taylor
It didn’t take long for for 23-year-old Adam Borics to make a statement to the organization that he’s the real deal, as he took out Anthony Taylor in the first round via submission in his Bellator debut.
It was a statement win for Borics, who had fun playing to the crowd after his victory.
It’s not often that young, exciting fighters can put it all together so quickly. Borics has a dangerous ground game and has shown that he can be a threat on the feet, although there was a moment in the first round where Borics delivered a low blow to Taylor, which isn’t good for any party involved.
Taylor did recover from the low blow, but he could not get his head right. Taylor will go on to face stiffer competition in the lightweight division, while Borics improves to 6-0 with four finishes, all by way of submission.
Ovchynnikova does enough to earn TKO victory
There’s nothing worse than seeing a fight get disrupted by a doctor’s stoppage, as was evident in the now-infamous Gegard Mousasi vs. Chris Weidman stoppage that happened a little more than a week ago at UFC 210. But for Lena Ovchynnikova, a win is a win.
Helen Harper didn’t make it to the third round after coming out of the second a bloody mess thanks to some stiff jabs courtesy of Ovchynnikova. Harper arguably had the advantage in the first round and was able to give her opponent fits with submission attempts, but she couldn’t seal the deal.
Submissions are exhausting, both for the fighter attempting to submit his or her opponent and for the one who is fighting for his or her life in the cage. Harper felt the fatigue set in and was a sitting duck in Round 2.
Ovchynnikova will take the win, even though I’m sure she would’ve rather finished Harper on her own terms. She now improves to 12-4, earning her first-ever KO/TKO finish in her career.
Weichel narrowly defeats Teixeira
This is one of those fights that was too close to call.
Daniel Weichel won over two judges for the victory over John Teixeira, but it’s safe to say the fight easily could have gone the other way. But then again, this is the exact reason fighters should never put their fate in the judges’ scorecards.
Teixeira almost won the fight in the first round after he dropped a bomb on Weichel‘s chin, sending him straight to the canvas. It appeared that the fight was seconds away from being stopped as Weichel‘s body crumpled to the ground, but somehow Teixeira couldn’t put him away.
The second round was evenly matched. Teixeira was the aggressor for the majority of the round. But Weichel did land some pretty powerful strikes, including a right that probably won him the round.
The third round clearly went to Weichel.
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