Juliana Velasquez wins Bellator belt and confirms Brazilian hegemony in the event

J. Velasquez (right) beats Macfarlane (left) and wins the belt. Photo: Reproduction / Instagram Bellator

Brazil has another belt in Bellator. On Thursday night (10), in the franchise's last event in 2020, Juliana Velasquez from Rio fought a tough fight, but managed to defeat Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, until then the flyweight champion (up to 56.7 kg.) in the attraction, and take the dispute to the unanimous decision of the judges (48-47, 49-46, 48-47).

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With Juliana's victory, Brazil expands its hegemony in Bellator. The country now has five of the event's nine belts. In addition to Velasquez, Chris Cyborg, in featherweight (up to 65.7 kg.) are the champions among women. In the men's divisions, Patrick Pitbull in featherweight and light weight (up to 70.3 kg.) and Douglas lima Among the welterweights (up to 77.1 kg.) are the other Brazilian athletes with reign in the organization.

The fight

The first round of the fight began calmly, with none of the athletes willing to take the initiative. Macfarlane, however, even though she was shorter, was able to shorten and hit the Brazilian with quick blows.

From the second round onwards, Juliana took control of the fight. The Brazilian landed good blows in the standing fight, avoided takedown attempts and when the Hawaiian tried to take her down, she ended up applying a counter takedown and came out on top.

Juliana followed the strategy of the previous part in the third round. She landed good blows, avoided takedown attempts and opened a deep cut on Macfarlane's face. At the end of the partial, the fighter from Rio still landed a beautiful flying knee (see the video below).

🦵💥 That connected!@JuVelasquezMMA and @Ilimanator are headed into the championship rounds of their #Bellator254 main event LIVE & FREE now on @CBSSportsNet.#USOHolidays #MMA #bellator pic.twitter.com/XYzq31wFEf

- BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) December 11, 2020

At a disadvantage on the judges' scorecards, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane returned to the fourth round ready to take the fight to the ground. The fight was held in the clinch for a long time, but the Hawaiian managed to change the level and apply the takedown in the second half of the match.

Macfarlane still tried to repeat the same in the last round, but Juliana defended well, fell to the ground on top and, despite being in half guard on top, preferred to return the fight to the center of the cage. From then on, she controlled the fight until taking a unanimous decision.

Bad event for Brazilian golds

Despite the victory and Juliana Velasquez winning the belt, Bellator 254 will not bring good memories for Brazilian fighters. On the preliminary card, Robson Gracie Jr. was beaten by Billt Goff. On the main program, ex-UFC Ronny Markes lost to veteran Linton Vassell by knockout, while Matheus Mattos, ex-TUF Brasil, debuted in the circular cage with a unanimous decision setback to Russian Magomed Magomedov, the only man to defeat Petr yan, UFC champion.