The whistling of Conor McGregor‘s hypetrain heading into UFC 178 made it easy to forget about Bellator 126. However, as always, CagePotato has you covered with a Bellator recap post.
Here’s a rundown of the fight card, with GIFs courtesy @ZProphet_MMA and Fansided.
In the opener, Mike Richman knocked Ed West OUT COLD. Richman had control of the stand-up throughout the fight. He masterfully cut off the cage, forcing West to literally run from him at points. Late in the first round, West couldn’t run anymore. Richman landed a massive two-punch combo while West was against the cage that sucked the life out of him.
Then came wrestling standout Bubba Jenkins against Thiago Meller. The fight was all Jenkins, who lived up to his grinder reputation and smothered Meller for the full 15 minutes of the fight. But it wasn’t just “lay and pray.” Jenkins punished Meller throughout the fight, making his face look like hamburger meat. Meller, to his credit, almost caught a guillotine a couple times. The Z-man (that’s what we’re calling him now) didn’t post any GIFs of this fight.
In the co-main event famed Polish prospect Marcin Held met Bellator mainstay Patricky “Pitbull” Freire in the next fight. Held put on an incredible performance. Save for a couple minutes in the first round, Held controlled the entire fight. Held’s wrestling always seemed to be deficient in his last few fights, but his improvements in that area were apparent as he took down Freire repeatedly. Once the fight went to the ground, Held maintained dominant positions and controlled the scrambles. He even opened up a nice cut underneath Freire’s eye. He won a unanimous decision win. Check out the GIF of an insane takedown he landed in the first round:
The main event was a title bout between middleweight champ Alexander Shlemenko and challenger Brandon Halsey. It was the least competitive bout of the night. Halsey dragged Shlemenko to the mat, took his back, and choked him out in under a minute. If MMA were Mortal Kombat, this would be a “Flawless Victory.”
Here are the complete results of the card:
Main Card
Brandon Halsey def. Alexander Shlemenko via submission (rear naked choke), Round 1, 0:35.
Marcin Held def. Patricky Freire via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-26).
Bubba Jenkins def. Thiago Meller via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).
Mike Richman def. Ed West via KO (punches), Round 1, 2:44.
Preliminary Card
LaRue Burley def. Raymond Pina via submission (guillotine choke), Round 2, 0:22.
Clifford Starks def. Jacob Ortiz via technical submission (guillotine choke), Round 2, 0:52.
Nick Rossborough def. Ryan Martinez via TKO (injury), Round 1, 5:00.
Joe Taimanglo def. Michael Parker via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27).
Dan Charles def. Stuart Austin via knockout (punches), Round 3, 0:18.
Derek Campos def. Estevan Payan via knockout (punch), Round 1, 0:31.
Brandon Girtz def. Benny Madrid via TKO (punches), Round 1, 0:57.