Anyone who didn’t catch the Bellator 163 card on Friday night really missed out.
A new light heavyweight champion was crowned in the main event as former UFC fighter Phil Davis (17-3) completely dominated Britain’s Liam McGeary (11-1) over five rounds to walk away with the unanimous decision win and that coveted golden strap.
Davis handed McGeary his first loss as a professional by utilising his superior wrestling. He consistently scored takedowns and transitioned to mount while punishing the Brit with his striking. Two of the judges scored it 50-45 to Mr Wonderful, with one judge seeing the one-sided bout as 50-44.
Arguably the most entertaining fight of the night was the co-main event as Brennan Ward (14-4 ) took on Saad Awad (19-9) in a welterweight contest.
Both warriors seemingly had a gentleman’s agreement to swing for the fences and see what happened as a firefight ensued in the first round. Both fighters landed heavy shots in the chaos, but it was “Irish” Ward who landed the coup de grace, securing the knockout at the 1:26 mark of the opening round.
Brennan Ward wins by spectacular knockout over Saad Awad in Rd 1 #bellator163 #mma pic.twitter.com/jAnccsWQoI
— Frontproof Media (@FrontProofMedia) November 5, 2016
If there was an award for most devastating finish, it probably would have gone to Javy Ayala (10-5). The American took just 16 second to knock out Sergei Kharitonov (23-6), sending the man who has knockout victories over Andrei Arlovski and Alistair Overeem to the shadow realm with a thunderous overhand right.
https://twitter.com/regaldy/status/794709609579692032?lang=en
Further down the bill Tyrell Fortune (1-0) scored one of the toughest finishes to watch against fellow debutant Cody Miskell (0-1). Fortune caused Miskell to turtle up against the fence where he kept landing rib-crunching knees to the body until referee Big John McCarthy had seen enough.
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