Liz Carmush finally won the championship belt, but it was not without controversy.
At the Bellator 278 on Friday night, Carmus won the Bellator lightweight title, winning a technical knockout break in the fourth round over Juliana Velázquez, which left Velázquez visibly upset by referee Mike Beltran’s decision to stop the race.
After racing the first two rounds, in which Carmous succeeded with low kicks, while Velázquez kept scoring with his left hand, Velázquez took control of the match in the third round, putting Karmush on his hind legs, controlling the clinches and smashing Karmush with his left hand. In the fourth, Velázquez missed Carmush early and seemed to hold the match well until the former Marine shot a takedown late in the round and quickly advanced to the top crucifix. From there, Carmush began to drop his elbows – and although none of them looked particularly strong, referee Mike Beltran saw enough to stop the fight at 4:47 of the fourth round.
Velázquez immediately challenged the stop, but it was too late.
Controversial or not, Carmouche has now finally won a world title belt after failing in his three previous Strikeforce and UFC titles.
The victory moved her to 4-0 in the Bellator cage and at the age of 38 this is the highest achievement in an already impressive career.
Barzola is superior to Mihailov
In the second of the two qualifiers for the Bellator Grand Prix in the lightweight category of the evening, Enrique Barzola overtook Nikita Mihailov on the road to victory with a unanimous decision, retaining his place in the Grand Prix.
Barzola set a relentless pace on Mihailov, taking him down every round and starting to work with land and pounds and attempts to pass. Mihailov proved his endurance by surviving several close attempts to suffocate from behind and reached the last bell for moral victory for the 23-year-old footballer.
The victory is Barzola’s second since joining Bellator and he will now face Magomed Magomedov in the first round of the Bellator Grand Prix in the lightweight division.
Sabatelo dominates Lugo
In the first qualifying match for the Bellator Grand Prix in the legal category of the evening, Danny Sabatello defeated Jornel Lugo in 15 minutes, winning by a dominant unanimous decision and knocking out his Grand Prix ticket.
Lugo simply had no answer about the fighting abilities of Sabatelo, who repeatedly took him down and reworked the invincible prospect with increasingly violent land and pounds. After his victory, Sabatelo cut a promotion full of curses on the man he will face in the first round of the Grand Prix, Leandro Higo.
Also on the main card, Grant Neal was able to recover from his first career loss by winning unanimously over Christian Edwards, and Manny Muro avenged his early career loss to Nate Andrews by winning a split decision when opening major cards.
Complete results of Bellator 278
Liz Carmush def. Juliana Velazquez by technical knockout in 4:47 of 4 rounds
Enrique Barzola def. Nikita Mikhailov with unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Dani Sabatelo def. Jornel Lugo with unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Grant Neil Def. Christian Edwards with unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Manny Muro def. Nate Andrews by separate decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Weber Almeida def. Fabricio Franco by technical knockout (kick) 3:01 from the 1st round
Dante Shiro def. Scotty Hao by technical knockout in 1:03 of the 3rd round
Blake Perry Def. Makoa Cooper through submission (suffocation by anaconda) at 4:14 on round 2
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