Bellator 218 ‘Sanchez vs Karakhanyan 2’ Recap & Highlights!

Bellator 218 ‘Sanchez vs Karakhanyan 2’ aired Fri. night (Mar. 22, 2019) from WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Oklahoma. MMA Mania brings you a post-fight recap, results, .gifs and interviews from a card led by an ‘El Matador’ main event!

Bellator 218: “Sanchez vs. Karakhanyan 2” aired last night (Fri., Mar. 22, 2019) via Paramount Network from WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Oklahoma. Rebounding from his loss to “Pitbull” last November, former No. 1 contender “El Matador” Emmanuel Sanchez (17-4) faced his Bellator 170 rival Georgi Karakhanyan (28-8-1, 1 NC) a second time.

Karakhanyan looked strong in the first round of his Bellator return, scoring an early takedown and staying on top for the remainder of the frame. Sanchez went for one triangle attempt but Karakhanyan saw it coming and was able to intelligently defend the attempt and avoid being swept in the process.

In trying to repeat that performance in the second round, Karakhanyan made a critical mistake by hitting the takedown against the fence. He wound up hanging onto the legs as Sanchez was trying to wall walk, and Jason Herzog got tired of the inactivity and stood them up. Immediately afterward Sanchez hit a takedown and spent the rest of the round in control, fishing for a rear naked choke and landing hammerfists from behind.

Each man saw some success in round three. Karakhanyan got takedowns, but Sanchez got reversals and landed heavy hammerfists and strikes when he was on top, going for a kimura and taking the back late in the round in the process. The most significant strike of the round and arguably the won that won Sanchez the fight was a textbook diving left to the head.

The judges returned a verdict of 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28 unanimous for Emmanuel “El Matador” Sanchez, who showed off his dance moves before his John McCarthy interview.

“Not a good decision for him. Not a good idea. We fight everywhere. He didn’t want to fight me tonight. He just wanted to hold me against the fence and hold me down. That’s not a fight! They think they want some but they don’t really want none as you can see. Every Featherweight watching, I’m coming for every single one of you. I’m hungry and I’m ready to fight. I’m still hungry to fight!”

Impressive Russian Heavyweight Valentin Moldavsky (7-1) looked to string together his third win in a row against a newcomer to the weight class in former Light Heavyweight contender Linton Vassell (18-7, 1 NC).

Early in the fight Vassell’s decision to move up seemed to be paying benefits as he had the power and strength to repeatedly take Moldavsky to the canvas and even opened a cut on Moldavsky’s face. The signs seemed to be pointing to Vassell winning this fight.

Unfortunately in the second and third round those advantages deteriorated. Vassell got swept when he did get it to the ground, but more often than not it was just the smaller and faster Moldavsky taking him down and wrapping his arms around Vassell’s waist to keep him down when he’d try to get up. Both men looked spent in round three, but Moldavsky had more left in the tank and hung on for a 29-28 unanimous decision. No post-fight interview followed.

Fresh off a win over former champion Alexander Shlemenko, Anatoly Tokov (27-2) seemed to have all the advantages for a bout with Gerald Harris (25-7-1), who could muster nothing better than a draw in his last three fights. Despite that lackluster record he nearly scored a huge upset with a left hook that wobbled Tokov in the first round, forcing him to spend a couple of minutes in clinch against the fence trying to figure out what happened.

Harris smelled blood and went for the power left hand again to open the second round, but Tokov tagged him with a body kick and a big left of his own, then applied the front headlock as he sank to the ground to wrangle a “ten finger” guillotine choke at 0:37.

Tokov and his translator spoke to John McCarthy afterward, expressing his concern about watching his younger brother fight earlier in the night.

“I worry about him very very much. I was in the locker room, a few times I walked outside to not see this. It’s very hard to watch my brother fight. (As for my finish) before the fight I think about some kind of choke but the first round was a surprise and I changed my plans. I think in my opinion I’m ready to fight for the belt. Right now the champion is Gegard Mousasi, I’d like to fight with him, but he has his own fight. (Regardless) I want the belt.”

Finally a late addition to the main card saw Norbert Novenyi (3-0) face William Lavine (1-1). Novenyi was almost half Lavine’s age (19 to 36) and twice as dominant in the fight. He took Lavine down whenever he wanted to, and after a lopsided first round he transitioned to a head and arm choke at 4:05 of round two for the submission finish.

“Big” John McCarthy spoke to Novenyi after the opening bout.

“Everyone who knows me knows I’m a perfectionist. I just wasn’t happy today. At the end of the day I got the win so I should be happy. My coaches my teammates are all spectacular fighters, so I’m just learning from them. The next time somebody’s going to sleep. I had to save my energy so I could finish it in the second round.”

For complete Bellator 218 results and coverage click here.