Chris Cyborg remains untouchable in the Bellator cage, but this time she had to work for it.
On Saturday night at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Cyborg retained its lightweight title with a unanimous victory by decision of Arlene Blanc at the Bellator 279 Main Event. but the semi-lightweight champion failed to secure the finish line this time, stifled by Blencowe’s sheer determination and endurance.
At first it seemed that this would be a repeat of their first match, when Cyborg missed Blanc in the first round, almost ended the battle there, before an illegal knee in Blancou’s head interrupted the action and made referee Jason Herzog take a point from Cyborg. . This short break allowed Blencowe to recover enough to get out of the round.
From there, things improved for Blanco, but as in the second and third rounds, Cyborg seemed pleased to have an almost exclusively kickboxing match, and while Cyborg certainly landed more and hit bigger, Blanco found a home for his right hand, even catching the champion off balance several times.
In the championship rounds, Blancou, her face with a bloody mask at the time, continued to insist on the Cyborg problem, creating an exchange and never giving up. In the end, Blencowe was just ahead of the welterweight champion, but she gave a great score for herself and became the first person to survive five rounds with a Cyborg in the Bellator cage. In the end, Cyborg won a clear unanimous decision and made his fourth defense of his title in the lightweight category.
After the match, Cyborg credited Blancou for her endurance and then said she wanted to pursue the biggest battles possible, whether it was Kat Zingano, Amanda Nunes or Kayla Harrison.
Stoats stuns Archuleta to claim temporary title in category beds
In the co-main event of the evening, Raufeon Stots achieved the biggest victory of his career, finishing former champion Juan Archuleta to win the interim lightweight title. After racing the first two rounds, in which Archuleta was actually trying to overthrow the two-time D-II national champion, Archuleta threw himself into a header from the Stots just seconds after the third round, which caused him to fall to the lane, where the Stots quickly finished work. It was the first loss with a break in Archuleta’s career and the first knockout in Stotz’s career at Bellator.
The battle was also the second quarterfinal match of the Bellator Grand Prix in the legal category, and as a result, the Hundreds secured a place in the semifinals, where they will face the winner of Leandro Higo against Danny Sabatelo.
Kish upset McFarlane
In what was perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening, Justin Kish scored the biggest victory of his career by upsetting Ilima-Lei Macfarlane in front of an audience in the hometown of the former flyweight champion. It was a pretty cool performance for both women, as they only made 63 combined shots between the two, but Kish just did a little more than McFarlane, scoring a lot of takedowns and controlling his position for most of the battle. In the end, Kish won by unanimous decision with results of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28. The loss was the second in a row for McFarlane, while Kish moved to 1-1 in the Bellator cage.
Mix Horiguchi grapples
In the first leg of the Bellator Grand Prix in the legal category, Patchy Mix started things with disappointment, winning a clear unanimous decision over one-time champion Kyoji Horiguchi. Mix managed to dominate much of the battle with his grappling skills, repeatedly taking his back and holding it for rounds at once. Horiguchi managed to make it competitive in places, but he just couldn’t get away from Mix all the time. With the victory, Mix broke his ticket to the semifinals of the Grand Prix, where he will face the winner of Magomed Magomedov against Enrique Barzola.
Medeiros wins an exciting scrap with Sanchez
Also on the main card, Yancy Medeiros made a successful debut in the Bellator, winning a huge scrap with Emmanuel Sanchez in the main card. For 15 minutes, Medeiros and Sanchez faced each other, and Medeiros’ shot was the big difference in the battle. In the end, he took home the victory with a unanimous decision and infuriated the Hawaiian audience.
Complete results of Bellator 279
Chris Cyborg Def. Arlene Blancow with unanimous decision (49-45, 49-45, 49-45)
Rafeon Stoc def. Juan Archuleta with a technical knockout (knee and punches) at 0:16 R3.
Justin Kish def. Ilima-Lay McFarlane with unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Patchy Mix def. Kyoji Horiguchi with unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
Yancy Medeiros def. Emanuel Sanchez with unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Goiti Yamauchi def. Levan Choheli by passing at 3:49 on R1.
Bobby King Def. Keoni Diggs with a separate solution (29-28, 30-27, 28-29)
Diana Silva def. Janai Harding with unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Lance Gibson Jr. Def. Nanoa Dung with unanimous decision (30-26, 30-25, 30-25)
Justin Gonzalez won. Kai Kamaka III with separate decision (29-28, 30-27, 28-29)
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