New Hampshire native Perry Filkins fought through three tough rounds against Jeremy Kimball and was able to walk out of the middleweight tournament opening round with a very late submission victory over Jeremy Kimball.
The fight opened with a flurry of punches by both Kimball and Filkins with Kimball getting the better of the exchange. Kimball continued to work the leg kicks early to keep Filkins away from him. Filkins eventually started using a left hook to counter the low leg kicks.
As the midway point of the first round drew both fighters started slowing down a bit. Kimball still continued to use his leg kicks to keep Filkins away from being overly aggressive. As Filkins tagged Kimball, Kimball shoot in and scored a take down, but wasn’t able to do anything with it.
As the round came to a close Kimball shoot in again and put Filkins to the mat. Once again, Filkins got right back up off of his feet and continued his aggressive striking but was eventually taken down again. The round finished with both fighters standing and trading blows and a final take down by Kimball.
To open up the second both fighters continued the aggressive onslaught. Kimball once again tried working a take down, even using some foot stomps, but wasn’t able to secure anything.
As the round wore on, Filkins scored a nice take down on Kimball and started working a nice half guard but eventually Kimball worked out of it and grabbed a jumping guillotine. Filkins defended and slammed him to the mat before he could sink it in.
As the second round came to a close both fighters were exchanging heavy blows when Kimball went for another take down which Filkins reversed and grabbed full mount. With seconds left Filkins kept hammering blows but was unable to stop him as time ran out.
The final round opened with both fighters once again exchanging. The pace clearly slower this go around with the late flurry in the last round. As the round wore on neither fighter was really engaging at all.
Midway through Filkins started to land some strikes which was pushing Kimball back against the cage. Filkins seeing that Kimball was tiring went in for a sloppy take down and landed in full-guard. After a couple minutes of working Filkins grabbed Kimball’s back and went for a rear-naked-choke with about a minute left. After a few seconds of posturing, Filkins was finally able to secure the tap and the victory.
Perry Filkins improved to 8-1 with the win and most importantly advances to the next round in the Bellator middleweight tournament.
Bellator 98 Results:
Perry Filkins def. Jeremy Kimball via SUB (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 4:18
Derek Anderson def. Patricky Pitbull via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Jeff Nader vs. Mike Mucitelli declared no contest (unintentional eye poke)
Josh Diekman def. Parker Porter via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:12
Ryan Quinn def. Brylan Van Artsdalen via submission (arm triangle) – Round 1, 2:34
Matt Bessette def. Nick Piedmont via TKO (strikes) Round 1, 1:41
Rico Disciullo def. Glenn Allair via KO (punch) – Round 1, 1:21