Ben Askren said he would take Karl Amoussou to the ground and that is exactly what he did as he retained his Bellator welterweight title with a victory upon the conclusion of the third round.
Askren (11-0) had no issues in taking the fight to the ground in all three rounds and Amoussou was unable to get off his back once the fight went to the ground.
While on the ground, Askren would work his ground game and his strikes opened up a cut on the face of Amoussou. At the end of the second round, the left eye of Amoussou begin to close and the cage side doctor looked at the cut. He would allow the fight to continue into the third round.
In the third round, it went just as the previous round went and Askren targeted the left eye of his opponent. He would punch the left side of Amoussou’s face the entire round. After the round was over, the cage side doctor decided that the challenger could not continue and Askren retained his title.
This is the third title defense by Askren, which is a Bellator record. He will now turn his sights to Andrey Koreshkov, who won the season seven welterweight tournament. For Amoussou (16-5), he will have to enter the Bellator tournament once again to get another chance at the Bellator title.
In the co-main event, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal made his long awaited Bellator debut against Przemyslaw Mysiala and he scored a first round knockout victory. This was the first fight for Lawal (9-1) in over a year and he showed the improvements in his boxing game, which he was patient and waited for his opening to get his seventh career victory by knockout. He now advances to the semifinals of the tournament and will face Emanuel Newton on February 21st in Salt Lake City.
The fight card also saw the quarterfinals in the welterweight tournament with Douglas Lima, Ben Saunders, Raul Amaya and Brent Weedman all advancing to the semifinals. Saunders and Weedman both score unanimous decision wins and Lima and Amaya won by TKO. The semifinal bouts will be Saunders vs. Amaya and Weedman vs. Lima. Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney does not know when the semifinal bouts will take place and the date of the these bouts should be announced shortly.
The full Bellator 86 results are below:
Main Card:
Ben Askren def. Karl Amoussou via TKO (doctor stoppage) – Round 3, 5:00
Muhammed Lawal def. Przemyslaw Mysiala via KO (punch) – Round 1, 3:52
Douglas Lima def. Michail Tsarev via TKO (injury) – Round 2, 1:44
Ben Saunders def. Koffi Adzitso via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary Card:
Hunter Tucker def. Javier Obregon via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 3:17
Jason Sampson def. Chris Pham via submission (armbar) – Round 3, 4:55
Brent Weedman def. Marius Zaromskis via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)
Raul Amaya def. Jose Gomes via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:12
Damon Jackson def. Zach Church via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:43
Cortez Coleman def. Matt Jones via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)