Get caught up with everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours with today’s edition of The Daily MMA review with notes from Bellator 118, One FC 15 and some major match-ups being announced.
Bellator 118 Recap
At Bellator 118 in Atlantic City, Joe Warren earned a unanimous decision victory over Rafael Silva to become the first Bellator fighter to win championships in two different weight classes. Granted, the strap Warren won against Silva was an interim belt. The bantamweights fought close through five frames. Warren relied upon his wrestling as the fight wore on to edge out Silva on the scorecards.
The two tournament fights on the card ended with stellar knockouts as Andrey Koreshkov (16-1) scored a highlight-reel flying knee finish over late-replacement Justin Baesman (14-5-1) to advance to the welterweight tournament finals, while Liam McGeary (7-0) ended Mike Mucitelli’s (6-1) night 22 seconds into their light heavyweight tournament quarterfinal with a vicious counter left.
Elsewhere on the other main card, Marcos Galvao (16-6-1) won his 137-pound catchweight fight with Thomas Vasquez (7-1) on the judges’ scorecards, outpointing Vasquez with superior grappling through all three rounds.
Notable prelim results saw featherweight prospect Darrion Caldwell (5-0) submit Joe Pingitore (4-2-1) with a guillotine choke early in their bout, middleweight Timothy Woods (7-4) edged out Eugene Fadiora (13-2) to win a unanimous decision and welterweight Dante Rivera (16-7) slightly outpoint Gemiyale Adkins (8-7) by winning a majority decision.
The News
1. According to MMA Junkie, a pair of veteran UFC welterweights will collide in the co-main event slot of WSOF 11 slot. Jon Fitch (25-6-1, 1 NC) is scheduled to welcome Jake Shields (29-7-1, 1 NC) to the promotion.
MMA Fighting also reported that another fight featuring a fighter fresh off a UFC stint making his WSOF debut will take place on that WSOF 11 card. Former UFC lightweight Melvin Guillard (31-13-2, 2 NC) is slated to take on Gesias Cavalcante (18-7-1, 2 NC).
2. Despite his issues with making weight at flyweight, John Lineker’s (23-7) next fight will be in the UFC flyweight division. He’ll be taking on Alptekin Ozkilic on the July 16th UFC Fight Night 45 card. On the verge of contendership after four straight victories, Lineker dropped a decision to Ali Bagautinov in his last outing, while Ozkilic had a four-fight winning streak of his own snapped by a decision loss to Louis Smolka.
3. Yesterday, the UFC Canada twitter account tweeted out that Ryan Jimmo’s (19-3) next fight would be in his home country of Canada at UFC 174 against Ovince St. Preux (15-5). Jimmo has gone 3-2 since being signed to the UFC light heavyweight with two of those three victories being first round knockouts, and St. Preux has pieced together a four-fight winning streak since losing to Gegard Mousasi.
One FC 15 Recap
Early yesterday morning, ONE FC 15 took place, and in the main event, Bibiano Fernandes (16-3) successfully defend his bantamweight championship against Masakatsu Ueda (18-3-2) by beating Ueda in each round with his grappling and striking to win a convincing, five-round decision. Fernandes extended his winning streak to eight by keeping the pressure on Ueda throughout the fight and by threatening him with submissions.
The co-main event saw Eduard Folayang (14-4) mirror Fernandes’ performance by outpointing Kotesu Boku (21-10-2) through a steady output of effective striking and takedowns. That fight was preceded by Rey Docyogen (11-2) taking home a unanimous decision over fellow flyweight Josh Alvarez (12-7) that snapped his two fight losing streak. Prior to that, featherweight Rob Lisita (14-5), heavyweight James McSweeney (13-11) and middleweight Leandro Ataides (7-0) each scored first round knockouts over Yusuke Kawanago (13-4-2), Chris Lokteff (12-2) and Tatsuya Mizuno (12-10).