Timothy Johnson slows the hype on Tyrell Fortune
Bellator 239, Feb. 21, WinStar World Casino, Thackerville, Oklahoma
[autotag]Tyrell Fortune[/autotag] was looking every inch a future contender as he climbed the Bellator heavyweight ranks in impressive fashion in 2019. But the Florida-based heavyweight suffered an unexpected bump in his road to the top in the form of former UFC veteran [autotag]Timothy Johnson[/autotag], who knocked him out in stunning fashion in Thackerville.
Johnson had arrived in Bellator to little fanfare in 2018 after going 4-3 in the UFC, and began his tenure with back-to-back first-round losses to Cheick Kongo and Vitaly Minakov. Then he was handed a matchup against rising prospect Fortune in a bout that, it seemed, was designed to act as a yardstick for the rising prospect’s progression in the heavyweight division.
But the teak-tough Johnson wasn’t in Thackerville to be anyone’s stepping stone, and he produced a superb performance to demolish Fortune and warn anyone in the Bellator heavyweight division that you underestimate the 35-year-old at your own peril.
His performance also produced one of the commentary lines of the year from Bellator play-by-play man Mauro Ranallo, who exclaimed, “Fortune favors the bold, and Johnson has knocked Tyrell Fortune out cold!”
Next up: “The Curse” proves to be a blessing for Bellator’s European team