Bellator Japan results & video: Chandler, ‘MVP’ pick up KO wins

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

Check out the results and highlights from the Bellator 237 main card, where Michael Chandler knocked out Sidney Outlaw in the first round of the co-main event.

Bellator Japan is in progress and the co-main event of the evening just witnessed Michael Chandler knockout Sidney Outlaw with a killer right hand in the first round. Chandler pressured forward working the body, and then came over the top to lay down the law. This was an excellent way to bounce back from his TKO loss that cost him the title. Michael Chandler is good, quite good.

Before that, Michael Page had a quick turnaround from his last fight to knockout Shinsho Anzai in the second round. MVP had a field day here. He was landing all the strikes and was in complete control the entire time. Page is now riding a three-fight winning wave. Also on the Bellator Japan main card, Lorenz Larkin put on a striking clinic on Keita Nakamura to earn himself a decision victory. This bout was one way traffic as Nakamura was unable to get the fight to the ground. Despite missing weight, Larkin is now on a four-fight winning streak.

Kana Watanabe scored the most meaningful win of her career by stopping Ilara Joanne with ground strikes in the third round. She overcame a rough opening act and leaned on her grappling to secure the victory. Watanabe is still undefeated and moves to 9-0-1 in her career. Opening up the event, Goiti Yamauchi picked up another submission by applying a first-round RNC to Daron Cruickshank. Although he missed weight for this one, Yamauchi has now won six of his last seven bouts — five coming by way of submission.

Main card:

Michael Chandler def. Sidney Outlaw by KO at 2:59 of round 1: 160 pounds

Chandler started the bout by pressing forward and working his body punches. Outlaw was working his low calf kicks, but wasn’t able to really get anything going.Then, Chandler landed a hefty right hand that instantly slumped Outlaw. The referee was right on top of the action to wave off the bout and prevent any unnecessary damage to Outlaw.

Michael Page def. Shinsho Anzai by KO at :23 of round 2: 173 pounds

Anzai was able to close the distance a couple times in the first round, but had to eat flying knees to do so. Despite getting on the inside, Anzai was unable to stop Page from breaking free. In open space, Page was sniping from the outside. He was able to drop Anzai and opted to avoid the ground and allowed Anzai to stand back up. MVP began to showboat and kept throwing flying knees to answer a rushing in Anzai. The second round didn’t last very long. He blasted Anzai with another flying knee, and then dropped him again with a laser of a right hand. That was all she wrote.

Lorenz Larkin def. Keita Nakamura by unanimous decision (30-26 x2, 30-27): Welterweight

Larkin came out working his kicking game, both to the legs and body. Nakamura was just a step behind and unable to get on the inside to attempt a takedown. The first round was all Larkin. The kickboxing style of fight continued into the second stanza. Larkin did a sound job of keeping the bout in his world. Big shots were being landed by Larkin towards the end of the round and he had Nakamura backpedalling. Nakamura pressed forward to kick off the final round, but the Larkin continued to land the better strikes. Larkin was able to sting Nakamura, which slowed down that forward pressure. Nakamura dove on a low single but ate some vicious elbows that allowed Larkin to remain standing.

*It should be noted that Larkin missed weight by 2.5 pounds

Kana Watanabe def. Ilara Joanne by TKO at 4:39 of round 3: (W) Flyweight

Joanne was the fighter getting her striking going early on. She was connecting with flush shots, which prompted Watanabe to take the fight to the floor. On the ground, Joanne locked up a triangle without an arm in, and Watanabe was able to escape. Watanabe controlled from the top, and tried to lock up an arm triangle as time ran out.

In the second act, Joanne shoved her foe against the fence, and took top position off of a botched toss from Watanabe. After tons of top control from Joanne, Watanabe was able to reverse and drop a bunch of ground strikes to finish the round strongly. Watanabe was quick to get a takedown in the final round. Joanne was landing elbows from her back before was finally able to pass into half guard. Joanne was stuck on the bottom and ultimately gave up her back. Watanabe then started to unload strikes until the referee pulled her off.

Goiti Yamauchi def. Daron Cruickshank by submission at 3:11 of round 1: Lightweight

It didn’t take very long for Yamauchi to take the back while standing. Once he got there, he patiently worked until he brought the fight to the mat. That’s where he quickly locked up a rear-naked choke. Cruickshank was dead to rights and respectfully tapped out.

*It should be noted that Yamauchi missed weight by 1.8 pounds

Postlims:

Andy Nguyen vs. Ai Shimizu: Strawweight

Ryuichiro Sumimura vs. Jon Tuck: Lightweight

Jarred Brooks vs. Haruo Ochi: Flyweight

Hiroto Uesako vs. Yusuke Yachi: Lightweight

Kanna Asakura vs. Jayme Hinshaw: Atomweight

Sergey Shemetov vs. Shoma Shibisai: Heavyweight

Yusaku Nakamura vs. Makoto Takahashi: 128 pounds

Ren Hiramoto vs. Takahiro Ashida: 150 pound kickboxing bout