Bellator 159 took place on Friday night at the Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kansas and was headlined by Joe Taimanglo pulling off one of the the biggest upsets in Bellator history with a submission victory against Darrion Caldwell in the third round.
Along with Taimanglo’s victory in the main event of the fight card, the main card on Spike also saw Melvin Guillard snap a three fight losing streak with a knockout victory against David Rickels in the co-main event of the fight card.
TheMMAReport.com has put together post fight statistics from Friday’s fight card.
- Taimanglo has now won 4 in a row since losing his bantamweight debut in 2014 and is tied for the third-most wins in Bellator bantamweight division history.
- This is the 12th career submission victory for Taimanglo and it’s his first since his Bellator debut in 2013 against Ronnie Rogers at Bellator 94.
- With the victory over Rickels, Guillard now has 22 career wins by TKO/KO and this is his first win since July 5, 2014 (748 days).
- Guillard’s last 5 wins have come in the month of July.
- This was the 17th Bellator fight for Rickels, most fights in the history of the promotion.
- Emily Ducote won her Bellator debut with a submission victory over Bruna Vargas and this is the first stoppage victory of her pro career.
- Daniel Weichel is now 6-1 in Bellator following his split decision victory over Emmanuel Sanchez.
- Sanchez’s last four fights have ended via split decision.
- Philip Lins returned to the Bellator cage for the first time in 729 days (1 year, 11 months, 28 days) and scored a TKO victory over Guilherme Viana.