Bellator London 2: ‘MVP Vs. Melillo’ Recap & Highlights!

Esther Lin

Bellator London 2 ‘MVP vs Melillo’ aired Saturday (Nov. 23, 2019) from SSE Arena in London, England. MMA Mania brings you a post-fight recap, results, .gifs and interviews from another big show!

Bellator London 2 “MVP vs. Melillo” took place Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019 at SSE Arena in London, England. The main event saw Michael Page (15-1) look to take out his “Venom” on Giovanni Melillo (13-4) on his home turf.

If you saw anything other than “MVP” knocking out a late replacement fighter in short and one-sided fight, you must be one of Melillo’s immediate family. He looked scared to be in the same cage with Page. He kept his hands up defensively almost the entire fight. Even that was of no help to him. Page crushed him with a right hand at 1:47 of the first round and stood over him admiring his work, then spoke to Josh Thomson about the knockout.

“This is where my home is man. London I love you guys. I’m looking in the crowd I see family, friends, supporters, I love you all, trust. I’m the one and only MVP. It doesn’t matter who steps in the cage! Click, click, uhh, BOOM. Who wants to see me fight Douglas Lima again? There’s your answer. I don’t want anybody else! I have a lot of respect for him, but I’m going to take something back he stole from me.”

Middleweight prospects also looked to hit a home run in friendly confines as “Assassin” Fabian Edwards (8-0) faced “Seabass” Michael Shipman (13-2).

Shipman was the better striker in the first frame but it was arguably close enough to be scored either way. The difference maker would be Edwards inability to stop Shipman pressing him into the cage.

Shipman continued to press a wrestling advantage over the next five minutes, sprawling effectively to block the one takedown attempt Edwards went for in return. When he could get back to his feet Edwards would run at Shipman trying to engage, only to be caught with hands and knees wherever the fight went. Edwards just couldn’t turn the tide.

Edwards finally decided to dump the gas tank to open Round 3, but Shipman responded with a takedown at the 30 second mark. Edwards was aggressive when he broke any takedown, scoring with elbows in close and uppercuts at range, seemingly getting one round under his belt at last. The judges would be left to sort it all out though.

Edwards took a split decision of 28-29, 29-28, 30-27 as the crowd booed. At first Edwards seemed to think it wasn’t fair play but as the interview continued he changed his tone.

“Nah! Rematch. A rematch needs to happen. (Leon) told me ‘F—king go and get it.’ I was landing the shots to end him. He was just trying to hold onto me. I don’t give a f—k man. I don’t give a f—k. We’ll see what’s next. F—k the holiday though, get me back in the gym!”

In addition two Lightweights with imposing nicknames squared off as “Dominator” Terry Brazier (11-2) faced “The True Viking” Soren Bak (12-1).

Bak showed off his prowess as a Danish youth wrestling champion by repeatedly putting Brazier on the canvas, but he only did so after Brazier clocked him coming forward with a clean right hand. Regardless, Bak dominated enough of the frame to earn a 10-9 first round. The second verse was as same as the first for the next five minutes save for Brazier never landing a hard shot.

Despite Brazier admonishing Bak that he was “f—king boring” in the third round, Bak did the exact same thing he did in the first two rounds en route to a unanimous decision of 30-27 X2 and one judge scoring an inexplicable 29-28. What round did Brazier win then? Regardless, Bak made fun of his haters in the post-fight interview with Josh Thomson.

“Yeah so I’ve pretty much made my career coming to England and beating the home town favorites. Boo me! It just feeds me! It feeds the wanking! The game plan was take him down, keep him there. I did that!”

For complete Bellator London 2 results and coverage click here.