Tag: Bellator 299

MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month for September: An ultra-rare title fight draw

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from September 2023.

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from September 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month award for September.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.

Nominees

MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month for September: Cedric Doumbe’s nine-second stunner

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from September 2023.

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best knockouts from September 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month award for September.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.

Nominees

Bellator’s Aaron Pico: ‘I won’t be entirely happy until I have a belt wrapped around my waist’

After another highlight moment at Bellator 299, Aaron Pico believes it’s time for title shot.

Bellator featherweight [autotag]Aaron Pico[/autotag] is pleased with another highlight finish, but now he’s aiming to fight for gold.

After his thrilling first-round finish of Pedro Carvalho in the co-main event of Bellator 299 at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland, Pico says he’s ready for more.

“Ideally, yes. I want to fight for the belt next,” Pico told reporters at a post-fight news conference. “No ifs, ands or buts. I believe I’m ready.”

The victorious outcome was Pico’s second consecutive win following an unfortunate TKO loss to Jeremy Kennedy due to a shoulder injury last October. Prior to that, Pico ripped through six opponents. Now, it’s gold or bust, and he says he truly won’t be happy until he can call himself champion.

“I’m happy, but I don’t have a belt wrapped around my waist,” Pico said. “So, the job is not done, to be honest with you. There’s not much to really celebrate other than a nice victory. But I won’t be entirely happy until I have a belt wrapped around my waist.”

Patricio Freire is the current Bellator featherweight champion. “Pitbull” recently came up short in a bantamweight title challenge against Sergio Pettis in June, and then lost an unexpected, super short-notice bout against Chihiro Suzuki in July.

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Pico currently sits at No. 3 in the Bellator featherweight promotional rankings, behind Kennedy and Adam Borics. None of the top featherweights are currently scheduled for bouts, so it remains to be seen which direction the promotion goes for the next title fight in the division.

Reflecting on his career, Pico has found peace with the ups and downs, especially considering he is still on track to reach his goal of fighting for a world title.

“I feel good with my journey,” Pico said. “I was thinking about this on the plane ride here. Of course, you want a perfect record. You want to be 16-0 with 15 knockouts, just perfect. That’s not life, to be honest with you. I’m a father now. … I’m so happy with how my career went. I have a lot more wisdom now to share with my son.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 299.

Johnny Eblen on confrontation with UFC champ Leon Edwards at Bellator 299: ‘I want to fight him, too’

Johnny Eblen opens up about his post-fight confrontation with UFC champ Leon Edwards at Bellator 299.

[autotag]Johnny Eblen[/autotag] almost got into a second fight after his successful Bellator title defense, and it was with none other than UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards.

On Saturday, Eblen stopped Fabian Edwards, Leon’s brother, in the third round of their middleweight championship bout in the main event of Bellator 299 at 3Arena in Dublin.

Adrenaline was running and Eblen (14-0 MMA, 10-0 BMMA) began to shout over a knocked-out Edwards (12-3 MMA, 8-3 BMMA), as the two had some bad blood in the lead up to the event. Naturally, Leon didn’t take that kindly, and the two had a confrontation in the cage and had to be separated by security.

“A lot of emotions, bro.” Eblen told reporters during a post-fight news conference. “His brother is a great fighter. I honestly hope he beats Colby (Covington). I f*cking hate Colby. That dude sucks. But yeah, I want to fight him, too.

“He’s one of the best guys in the world, and I want to prove I’m one of the best in the world. You have to fight everybody. He’s not in my weight class, but he might go up to 185 eventually. But I went over after and said, ‘Sorry, my emotions were high.’ I squashed the beef. I don’t have anything wrong with him. I just want to fight the guy.”

As far as the actual fight with Fabian, Eblen was overall pretty happy with his showing. This was his second title defense since taking the belt away from veteran Gegard Mousasi back at Bellator 282 in June 2022.

“A little bit of a slow start, but I felt I had the advantage in the striking,” Eblen said when asked about his performance. “He was pretty crafty with the get-ups, I was also trying to take him down, but I wasn’t trying to wear my arms out and work my wrestling too much. I was trying to get a feel for the defense he was doing. He was doing a good job, but over time I think he was getting slower and slower and slower, and I would’ve been able to build on it.

“He does a good job coming out of the clinch in short elbows, and that’s how he cut me. I maybe felt a little bit of urgency because I wasn’t sure how bad the cut was. It felt pretty bad, but they didn’t stop it, so I was like, ‘Ok, cool.’ Going into the third round, I felt like I had to turn it up a bit. I was throwing some big shots. I was planning on taking him down, but I ended up finishing him. It is what it is.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 299.

Photo: Johnny Eblen’s eyebrow cut from Bellator 299 title defense is one of the nastiest of all time

That was a bad one. Check out Johnny Eblen’s insane cut from his Bellator 299 title defense.

[autotag]Johhny Eblen[/autotag] might’ve been lucky he stopped Fabian Edwards when he did.

The Bellator middleweight champion was winning on all scorecards before stopping Edwards (12-3 MMA, 8-3 BMMA) early in the third round of their Bellator 299 main event at 3Arena in Dublin, but he was also carrying a nasty gash on his right eyebrow that could’ve jeopardized his fight.

Edwards cut Eblen (14-0 MMA, 10-0 BMMA) with an elbow while separating from a clinch exchange in the second round.

Below is a picture of the aftermath courtesy of Eblen’s teammate, UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier:

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This was Eblen’s second title defense of the middleweight belt. His first defense came in February against Russia’s Anatoly Tokov in a unanimous decision win. “Pressure” became champion in June 2022 when he took the belt from respected veteran Gegard Mousasi.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 299.

Johnny Eblen def. Fabian Edwards at Bellator 299: Best photos

Check out the best photos from Johnny Eblen’s third-round knockout win over Fabian Edwards in the Bellator 299 main event.

Check out the best photos from [autotag]Johnny Eblen[/autotag]’s third-round knockout win over [autotag]Fabian Edwards[/autotag] to defend the middleweight title at Bellator 299 at 3Arena in Dublin. (Photos courtesy of Lucas Noonan, Bellator)

Bellator 299 results: Johnny Eblen KOs Fabian Edwards, gets into confrontation with UFC champ Leon Edwards

Johnny Eblen knocked out Fabian Edwards and then got into a confrontation with his brother, UFC champ Leon Edwards.

[autotag]Johnny Eblen[/autotag] is still undefeated and still Bellator champion.

Eblen successfully defended his middleweight title Saturday in the main event of Bellator 299 at 3Arena in Dublin. Eblen (14-0 MMA, 10-0 BMMA) dropped [autotag]Fabian Edwards[/autotag] (12-3 MMA, 8-3 BMMA) early in the third round and then finished him with ground-and-pound shortly after to log his second successful title defense.

The official result was a knockout win in favor of Eblen at the 0:21 mark of Round 3.

“Pressure” then hovered over hurt Edwards and shouted at him. Fabian’s brother, UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards, wasn’t happy with Eblen’s gestures and the two had a confrontation in the cage that forced security to step in and separate the two.

Shortly after, cooler heads prevailed, and Eblen and Leon shook hands.

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Prior to the stoppage, the fight was going Eblen’s way with a few minor hiccups. Eblen had a leg kick-heavy attack and used his wrestling to press and control Edwards against the cage. He had a volume advantage that seemed to put him over in the fight. Edwards did land a few shots, and even an elbow that cut Eblen’s forehead, but mainly lacked volume.

Eblen defended the middleweight title for the second time. His first defense came in February agaianst Russia’s Anatoly Tokov in a unanimous decision. Eblen became champion in June 2022 when he took the belt from Gegard Mousasi.

Edwards saw a three-fight winning streak come to an end with the defeat. It also was the first stoppage loss of his career.

Below are complete Bellator 299 results:

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 299.

Bellator 299 official results and live video stream

Bellator 299 takes place Saturday, and you can join us for a live video stream and official results beginning at 11 a.m. ET (8 a.m. PT).

Bellator 299 takes place Saturday, and you can join us for a live video stream and official results beginning at 11 a.m. ET (8 a.m. PT).

The event takes place at 3Arena in Dublin. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

In the main event, middleweight champion Johnny Eblen (13-0 MMA, 9-0 BMMA) takes on challenger Fabian Edwards (12-2 MMA, 8-2 BMMA). In the co-feature, Pedro Carvalho (13-7 MMA, 6-4 BMMA) meets Aaron Pico (11-4 MMA, 11-4 BMMA) at featherweight.

Full Bellator 299 results include: