Tag: Karl Moore

Corey Anderson def. Karl Moore at Bellator Champions Series: Belfast: Best photos

Check out these photos from Corey Anderson’s title-winning victory over Karl Moore at Bellator Champions Series: Belfast.

Check out these photos from [autotag]Corey Anderson[/autotag]’s vacant light heavyweight title victory over Karl Moore in the main event of Bellator Champions Series: Belfast. (Photos courtesy of Bellator MMA)

Bellator Champions Series: Belfast results: Corey Anderson outwrestles Karl Moore, wins vacant light heavyweight title

Corey Anderson wins the vacant Bellator light heavyweight title after defeating Karl Moore at Bellator Champions Series: Belfast.

[autotag]Corey Anderson[/autotag] finally got what he’s been chasing all of his career – a championship belt of a major MMA organization.

The former UFC contender and current Bellator fighter won the vacant light heavyweight title for the promotion after defeating [autotag]Karl Moore[/autotag] in the headliner of Bellator Champions Series: Belfast. The event went down on Friday at SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Anderson (18-6 MMA, 11-5 BMMA) defeated Moore (12-3 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) by unanimous decision, winning 49-46, 49-46 and 50-45 on the three judges’ scorecards.

Anderson, who’s been fighting professionally for over a decade, won the vacant title after two previous attempts. In November 2022, he lost to then-champion Vadim Nemkov and previously fought Nemkov to a no-contest in April 2022. Anderson also came close to fighting for a title in the UFC, as he was a top contender for many years, but the opportunity never materialized.

Although it was a clear win for Anderson, he had to work for it, given that Moore was constantly looking for a way to win. He stunned Anderson in the first with a hook and then came close to getting an armbar in the third.

Regardless, Anderson was able to take down and control the Irishman throughout the fight while also landing ground-and-pound. It was a smart and measured performance by Anderson.

Anderson now finds himself on a two-fight winning streak, as he defeated Phil Davis in a split decision in his previous bout back in June. Anderson now adds world champion to his resume, along with an impressive list of names he’s defeated in the past, such as Jan Blachowicz, Glover Teixeira, Davis, Ryan Bader, Johnny Walker, and others.

On the other hand, Moore saw a four-fight winning streak come to an end. He had been undefeated since joining Bellator in 2019. In his previous fight, he defeated Alex Polizzi in a unanimous decision.

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Up-to-the-minute BCS: Belfast results include:

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event page for Bellator Champions Series: Belfast.

Bellator Champions Series: Belfast faceoff video: Corey Anderson, Karl Moore size up for vacant title

The Bellator light heavyweight title is up for grabs, and Corey Anderson and Karl Moore faced off one last time before their Belfast clash.

Bellator returns Friday with its first event of 2024, and the vacant light heavyweight title will be on the line in the main event.

The first card promoted by PFL, Bellator Champions Series: Belfast is headlined by [autotag]Corey Anderson[/autotag] (17-6) vs. [autotag]Karl Moore[/autotag] (12-2). The two veterans will fight in a five-round bout for the championship vacated by Vadim Nemkov, who moved to heavyweight.

Anderson and Moore remained respectful but intense at Thursday’s ceremonial faceoffs, as Bellator/PFL analyst Dan Hardy raised the title gold above them.

Check out the BCS: Belfast main event faceoff in the video above.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator Champions Series: Belfast.

Video: Bellator Champions Series: Belfast ceremonial weigh-ins, faceoffs live stream

Watch a live stream of the Bellator Champions Series: Belfast ceremonial fighter weigh-ins on Thursday.

Bellator Champions Series: Belfast ceremonial fighter weigh-ins take place Thursday, and you can catch a live video stream of the proceedings here on MMA Junkie at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT).

The weigh-ins take place in Belfast Northern Ireland, where Bellator Champions Series: Belfast takes place Friday at SSE Arena. The main card streams on Max after prelims on MMA Junkie.

Two title fights are on the docket as in the main event, [autotag]Corey Anderson[/autotag] (17-6) and [autotag]Karl Moore[/autotag] (12-2) meet for the vacant Bellator light heavyweight title. In the co-main event, featherweight champion [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag] (34-7) will look to notch his second title defense against [autotag]Jeremy Kennedy[/autotag] (19-3).

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator Champions Series: Belfast.

Bellator Champions Series: Belfast weigh-in results: Title fights official, one fighter heavy

Check out the results from the official Bellator Champions Series: Belfast fighter weigh-ins in Northern Ireland.

The official weigh-ins for Bellator Champions Series: Belfast are in the books, and all but one fighter hit their marks.

In the main event, [autotag]Corey Anderson[/autotag] (17-6) and [autotag]Karl Moore[/autotag] (12-2) will battle for the vacant Bellator light heavyweight title. Both fighters weighed in at 204.6 pounds.

In the co-headliner, featherweight champion [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag] (34-7) defends his title against [autotag]Jeremy Kennedy[/autotag] (19-3). They each hit 145 pounds on the dot.

[autotag]Vikas Singh Ruhil[/autotag] (12-7) was the lone fighter who missed weight. Ruhil fights against [autotag]Nathan Kelly[/autotag] (9-2) at featherweight, but he weighed in at 147 pounds and will be fined a percentage of his purse. Kelly was on proper weight at 146.

The weigh-ins took place at the Bellator host hotel. The SSE Arena in Belfast, hosts Friday’s event, which has a main card on Max following prelims on MMA Junkie.

The full Bellator Champions Series: Belfast weigh-in results included:

MAIN CARD (Max 3 p.m. ET)

  • Corey Anderson (204.6) vs. Karl Moore (204.6) – for vacant light heavyweight title
  • Champ Patricio Freire (145) vs. Jeremy Kennedy (145) – for featherweight title
  • Fabian Edwards (185.6) vs. Aaron Jeffery (185.2)
  • James Gallagher (145.4) vs. Leandro Higo (145.1)
  • Manoel Sousa (155.6) vs. Tim Wilde (155)

PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie, 12 p.m. ET)

  • Ciaran Clarke (135.5) vs. Darius Mafi (135.3)
  • Nathan Kelly (146) vs. Vikas Singh Ruhil (147)*
  • Abraham Bably (257.4) vs. Isaiah Pinson (242)
  • Grant Neal (205.4) vs. Luke Trainer (203.8)
  • Alfie Davis (155.6) vs. Oscar Ownsworth (155)
  • Jordan Elliott (129.5) vs. Nate Kelly (129.1) – 130-pound contract weight

*Singh Ruhil missed the featherweight limit and will be fined a percentage of his purse.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator Champions Series: Belfast.

Karl Moore on Bellator title shot: ‘Belfast, Beirut, Bangladesh – it doesn’t matter’

Karl Moore on Bellator title shot: ‘Belfast, Beirut, Bangladesh – it doesn’t matter’

#BellatorBelfast

Karl Moore has the biggest opportunity of his career in font of him. He can admit that Friday is not just another fight.

[autotag]Karl Moore[/autotag] has the biggest opportunity of his career in font of him. He can admit that Friday is not just another fight.

Moore (12-2) will fight Corey Anderson (17-6) for the vacant Bellator light heavyweight title atop the Bellator Champions Series: Belfast lineup at SSE Arena in Northern Ireland. What’s more, it’s a home fight for Moore – though he tries to make that not matter.

“I love the fact that I’m fighting in front of my own people in Belfast. It’s a once in a lifetime experience,” Moore told MMA Junkie Radio. “But for me personally, everything outside the cage is just irrelevant. It’s amazing, but when me and Corey’s in there, everything outside is just background noise. It doesn’t matter. It’s me and Corey locked in a cage for 25 minutes. Everything outside is just irrelevant.”

Anderson is 4-1 under the Bellator banner after he came over from the UFC in 2020. He lost a previous title shot to Vadim Nemkov in 2022 in a fight that was a rematch after a no contest from earlier that year.

Moore in 4-0 in Bellator, but seems comfortable with the line of thought that his wins over Lee Chadwick, Karl Albrektsson, Maciej Rozanski and Alex Polizzi don’t quite match up with Anderson’s Bellator opponents – Melvin Manhoef, former two-division champion Ryan Bader, Phil Davis and Nemkov among them.

But Moore knows his wins aren’t slouches, either, and said he’s prepared to back up the reason he’s in a title fight.

“Before Nemkov had the belt, I was the only guy in the division that Vadim hadn’t fought. He’s beaten everybody else except me,” Moore said. “I’m 4-0. I’m undefeated in the promotion, and in them four fights, I’ve taken out the fifth and sixth ranked guy in the division. I think that speaks for itself. When I fight, my fights are nearly always exciting too. I come to fight. I think that speaks for itself.

“”In terms of footage and on paper, yes, I would say (he’s my toughest opponent). But you won’t know until you’re in there. This fight could last 5 seconds and it could be the easiest fight I’ve ever had, or it could last 25 minutes and be the toughest fight.”

Anderson is as much as a 4-1 favorite in the fight, so the oddsmakers aren’t expecting Moore to make it a 5-second win, that’s for sure. And even if the fans could give him an edge, he might be so focused in the moment it would’t matter.

“After the fight’s over and I win, I can take it and I can soak it in and appreciate everything – fighting in front of my own people, winning the belt,” Moore said. “But them 25 minutes, it doesn’t matter. It could be silence. It could be absolutely mayhem. I’m focusing on the job at hand and that’s it.

“It can be in Belfast, Beirut, Bangladesh – it doesn’t matter. The job’s still the same.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s eventgholvlrlllg for Bellator Champions Series: Belfast.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC, PFL, Bellator fights announced in the past week (Feb. 5-11)

Check out the UFC, PFL, and Bellator fights that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC, PFL, and Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by the promotions from Feb. 5-11.

Corey Anderson vs. Karl Moore vacant title fight headlines Bellator’s 2024 debut in Belfast

Corey Anderson will hope the third time is the charm in his attempt to capture the Bellator light heavyweight title.

[autotag]Corey Anderson[/autotag] will hope the third time is the charm in his attempt to capture the Bellator light heavyweight title.

After longtime champ Vadim Nemkov vacated the belt to move up to the heavyweight division, a plan has been set in motion to crown a new titleholder, with Anderson (17-6 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) set to take on [autotag]Karl Moore[/autotag] (12-2 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) in the headliner of a March 22 event expected to take place in Belfast, Ireland. A venue and broadcast plans haven’t been revealed.

It will be the first Bellator branded fight card since the promotion was acquired by PFL late last year.

MMA Junkie confirmed the booking with a person close to the situation following an initial report from Ariel Helwani. The person requested anonymity because the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

Anderson, No. 6 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie light heavyweight rankings, came up short in back-to-back fights with then-champ Nemkov in 2022, seeing the first fight end in a no contest before the rematch resulted in a unanimous decision loss. The 34-year-old rebounded in June, beating Phil Davis by split decision at Bellator 297.

Now “Overtime” will finally try to get his hands on the belt, but standing in his way will be Moore, who has put together a four-fight winning streak since joining Bellator in September 2019. The 32-year-old has only been finished once in his career, and that was a submission defeat to UFC veteran Paul Craig in September 2015.

Irish Bellator 297 winner Karl Moore sees path to title through Dublin this fall

Karl Moore has high expectations for himself now that he’s 4-0 in the light heavyweight division to start his Bellator tenure.

CHICAGO – [autotag]Karl Moore[/autotag] defeated Alex Polizzi by unanimous decision this past Friday at Bellator 297, earning three scores of 29-28 from the judges at WinStar Arena.

Afterward, Moore (12-2 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) discussed his performance, his undefeated start to his Bellator tenure, his championship aspirations, and more – all with a Giordano’s pizza in front of him.

You can watch his post-fight news conference in the video above.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 297.

Bellator 297 post-event facts: Vadim Nemkov achieves rare feat in dominant title defense

Check out all the facts from Bellator 297, where Vadim Nemkov took another step toward arguably the greatest resume in Bellator history.

Bellator’s lone event of the month went down Friday with Bellator 297 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, and it was arguably the promotion’s biggest show of the year thus far.

Two championship bouts topped the card, and both men who entered the cage with belts, lefts with them, too. [autotag]Vadim Nemkov[/autotag] (16-2 MMA, 9-0 BMMA) handily defeated [autotag]Yoel Romero[/autotag] (15-7 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) by unanimous decision in the headliner to retain the light heavyweight strap, while [autotag]Sergio Pettis[/autotag] (23-5 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) kept hold of bantamweight gold with a unanimous decision over [autotag]Patricio Freire[/autotag] (35-6 MMA, 22-6 BMMA).

For more on the numbers, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from Bellator 297.

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