Bellator 231 ‘Mir vs Nelson 2’ Recap & Highlights!

Bellator 231 ‘Mir vs Nelson’ aired Fri. night (Oct. 25, 2019) from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. MMA Mania brings you a post-fight recap, results, .gifs and interviews from a card with a huge Heavyweight main event!

Bellator 231 “Mir vs. Nelson 2” took place Friday, Oct. 25, 2019 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. In the main event two former UFC rivals collided for a second time hoping to snap their respective losing streaks as Frank Mir (18-13) met Roy Nelson (23-17).

Nelson stood so far forward on his left leg in round one that he practically painted a bullseye on it screaming “KICK ME!” Frank Mir was happy to oblige, tagging Nelson over and over again. Nelson had a few good body shots and uppercuts but wasn’t able to pull the trigger on his patented overhand right, giving up a 10-9 first round to the opposition.

Mir was relentless in pursuit of that leg in the second round. At one point Nelson almost physically submitted through his stance, limping away from a kick after a previous one dropped him to one knee, not even looking at the referee or his opponent as he walked away. It was a definitive 10-9 that was starting to border on being a 10-8.

The only significant difference between the third round and the first two is that Mir kicked Nelson in the cup, and although Nelson seemed able to shrug it off and continue, referee Todd Anderson called time and gave Mir a warning to target his kicks more carefully. After the restart Mir continued to attack the leg and Nelson continued to search for a home run with the cannon in his right arm. When that didn’t work he went for a takedown and got it with 10 seconds left, but as the saying goes “Too little — too late.”

The judges returned a verdict for Frank Mir of 30-27 and 29-28 X2 and he spoke to John McCarthy about the fight afterward.

“I got some flack for saying it wouldn’t be the most exciting fight. I knew the strategy would be move to the right, hit the leg and repeat. He didn’t land many of those rights but when he did they hit hard. Look at my face! We have three generations of Mirs in here. My father, me, and my daughter. My two sons are watching at home.”

“Mr. Wonderful” Phil Davis (20-5, 1 NC) took on Rizin prospect Karl Albrektsson (9-2) on this card, seeking to beat a man who holds a win over common opponent Vadim Nemkov.

The cliche is “speed kills” and for Davis that’s how Round 1 went. He was able to land effective hands and leg kicks, while Albrektsson struggled to close the range and was unable to stop the takedown with a little over 90 seconds left. A solid 10-9 opener to Davis.

Albrektsson tried to meet Davis in the center and trade in the second round, but that strategy backfired when he got floored by a right hand. Davis immediately took his back when Albrektsson got back up and although he struggled mightly, Davis drug him back to the ground and delivered some big knees to the body, securing another 10-9 round.

The offensive output from Davis finally overwhelmed Albrektsson in Round 3. A left hand clipped Albrektsson cleanly and a right dropped him to his knees. Davis stood over him delivering damage, started throwing uncontested rights when he drug Albrektsson back to the ground, then delivered multiple left hands and elbows to the head when he drug him down a second time. Albrektsson stopped fighting back and the referee waved it off at 3:06 of the third round. Davis spoke to John McCarthy afterward about Albrektsson’s toughness.

“I trained with him once in Sweden. He’s not to be slept on. He’s one of the toughest guys in the gym, one of the hardest workers in the gym. I was hoping I was doing enough work. I knew I wanted to stay on top of him, stay busy. I couldn’t get him flat. That shows how tough he is. Even when I had him hurt he didn’t give up position. He was laying it on thick but it was just the right opportunity I was looking for. I’ve got two things that I really want. I want another Light Heavyweight tournament, put a million dollars up, we’ve got enough guys in the stable to make this happen.”

Ed Ruth (7-1) is a wrestler from Penn State just like Phil Davis, but he’d have to grapple with UFC & Bellator veteran Jason Jackson (10-3) last night. Jackson got the better of the striking exchanges, leaving Ruth dazed twice and opening a cut near his left eye by the end of round one. Ruth got a takedown at 3:45 but Jackson quickly got back up, negating any chance Ruth had to change the momentum of the round.

Ruth was able to turn the tide in the second frame by constantly coming forward, making it harder for Jackson to land with power while backpedaling, enabling Ruth to tag him with jabs and leg kicks. His takedown attempts missed badly though and on one he was inches away from being destroyed by a head kick as he got back up.

Jackson floored Ruth with a big right hand in the first minute of the third round, but Ruth recovered and got back up, constantly coming forward looking to answer Jackson back. He never landed a single shot that did anywhere near that much damage though, and although he started scoring takedowns in the second half Jackson would get up seconds after each one. It was arguably a 10-9 for Jackson based on damage, but the judges would decide.

Decide they did. One judge thought it was 29-28 for Jackson, but two went the other way giving it to Ruth by split decision, and he spoke to “Big” John McCarthy after his win.

“I knew he was going to come out swinging. I’m glad it went all three rounds, I’m a guy who likes the war. When he floored me I knew I had to look for some knees or legs and put them together. He’s a great fighter, that was a great punch, he had some good stuff in there. I don’t mind punishment. I don’t mind three rounds, five rounds, put me in there I’m ready.”

Speaking of former UFC fighters, “Rowdy” Bec Rawlings (7-8) looked to snap a four fight losing streak in her promotional debut versus Ilara Joanne (8-4).

The first round belonged entirely to Joanne, who dominated the fight when it was standing and took Rawlings down when she wanted to. The best thing Rawlings could do in Round 1 was to neutralize Joanne on top, forcing her from half guard back to full guard and making referee Dan Miragliotta stand them up with 50 seconds left. It was a clear 10-9 for Joanne.

Things did not improve for Rawlings in round two when she took a leg kick that tumbled her to the ground five seconds in.

At first Rawlings tried to neutralize Joanne on top as she had done the previous frame, but Joanne pushed her to the fence and Rawlings tried to wall walk. Joanne jumped on her back and tried to sink in the hooks, Rawlings almost escaped to side control, but Joanne transitioned slickly to a knee bar and got the submission at 3:35.

“I’ve been training with the Pitbull brothers this whole time. This knee bar didn’t come out of nowhere, I have been training it this whole camp.”

She crossed Bec Rawlings off of her “hit list” as the translator explained that she aimed to take out “Master” Valerie Loureda, Valerie Letourneau and the “Queen” Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, in that order. Perhaps that’s why they call her Ilara “Arya Stark” Joanne.

Rounding out the main card would be “Jack Swagger” a/k/a Jake Hager (2-0) against the latest opponent to test his transition to MMA in Anthony Garrett (4-2).

Unfortunately there’s not much to write about here because Hager kneed Garrett in the cup twice, the second time landing so hard that Garrett was unable to get back up and Dan Miragliotta called for a no contest. The official time was 1:56 of the first round.

For complete Bellator 231 results and coverage click here.