G. Mousasi is the new Bellator champion (Photo: BellatorMMA Twitter Reproduction)
Couldn't Raphael Carvalho! The Brazilian was knocked out in the first round by the Dutchman Gegard Mousasi and lost the Bellator middleweight belt (up to 84 kg.). The fight was the main attraction of the 200th edition of the show, held this Friday (25), in London. The result puts an end to a series of three belt defenses and 15 consecutive victories for the fighter from Rio.
The fight
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In his second fight at Bellator, Mousasi showed that the UFC must regret not renewing his contract after he beat the former champion Chris Weidman, in 2017. The Dutchman dominated the Brazilian from the start, working from close range and taking down Rafael on several occasions. The champion still got up on a few occasions, but was unable to keep the dispute at a comfortable distance.
After much insistence, Mousasi stabilized his position on the ground, arrived in mount and with a series of punches from above forced the referee to stop the fight and declare a technical knockout at 3:35 of the first round.
Still in the circular cage, Gegard Mousasi challenged another former UFC fighter. The Canadian Rory McDonald, current Bellator welterweight champion (up to 77,1 kg.).
“I think everyone wants to see me against Rory McDonald, so, if he doesn’t get booked, this will be the next fight”, said Mousasi.
Wasting no time, MacDonald promptly accepted the challenge on Twitter: “I know you wanted a title defense from me before I fought at middleweight, but I was against Gegard Mousasi It’s the fight to be done now, so let’s make it happen”, he wrote.
Bellator 200 results
MAIN CARD
Gegard Mousasi derrotou Raphael Carvalho by technical knockout at 3:35 of R1
Michael Page defeated David Rickels via submission (forfeit) at 43s of R2
Aaron Chalmers defeated Ash Griffiths via technical submission 1m54s into R1
Mike Shipman defeated Carl Noon by knockout at 11 seconds of R1
Kate Jackson defeated Anastasia Yankova via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 29-27)
Phil Davis defeated Linton Vassell by knockout at 1m05s of R3
PRELIMINARY CARD
Jahreau Shepherd defeated Marcin Zywica via TKO (medical stoppage) at 5:00 of R1
Walter Gahadza defeated Kent Kauppinen via submission at 2:04 of R2
amir albazi defeated Iurie Bejenari via submission at 3m21s of R1
Charlie Leary defeated Tom Green by TKO at 4:58 of R2
Charlie Ward defeated Martin Hudson via TKO at 2:23 of R1
Pedro Carvalho defeated Daniel Crawford via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Anatoly Tokov defeated Vladimir Filipovic via submission at 56s of R1
Costello van Steenis defeated Kevin Fryer via TKO at 1:27 of R1
Mike Ekundayo defeated Tom Mearns via TKO (medical stoppage) at 1:02 of R2
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