At Bellator 282, Gegard Mousasi had his four-fight winning streak snapped as undefeated contender Johnny Eblen put a five-round beating on ‘The Dreamcatcher’ to claim the Bellator 185lb title.
Gegard Mousasi went into the fight a heavy favorite, but from the first round, it became apparent that the odds did not reflect how the fight would truly play out. Eblen had Mousasi hurt in the first few minutes, using crisp boxing to light the now former champ up. This would be the story of the fight, as Eblen continued to land one-two combination’s on Mousasi, and then utilized his wrestling skills to dominate when the fight entered the grappling realms.
Whilst it looked like the fight was close to being finished on numerous occasions, Eblen ultimately controlled every single round, picking up a one-sided unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45).
Fighters React To Johnny Eblen’s Impressive Victory
Unsurprisingly, Johnny Eblen’s title-winning victory over Mousasi caused waves all across the MMA social media space. The new champ had numerous fellow fighters reacting, in both positive and negative ways.
UFC BMF title holder, Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal, sent out a message of support to the ATT teammate, congratulating Eblen for picking up the upset victory.
However, Yoel Romero, who is coming off his own impressive win in the Bellator middleweight division, posted a challenge to the newly crowned champion:
Johnny Eblen also received support from another Bellator title holder, as welterweight champion Logan Storley posted: