Without waiting for the decision of the judges: how Magomedov “strangled” Barsola, and Tokov and Shabliy won by knockouts at Bellator 282

The Bellator tournament in Uncasville attracted a lot of attention for several reasons.

Firstly, in the main fight of the evening, the next defense of the belt was carried out by one of the strongest middleweights of the planet Gegard Mousasi, who had not known defeat for three years.

Secondly, three Russians performed at Bellator 282, each of whom already deserved to be in the elite of their division.

Magomed Magomedov had to start in the Grand Prix of the lightest category, Alexander Shabliy had to go through the most difficult test of his career, and Anatoly Tokov had to once again confirm his class.

It was the Fedor Team fighter who entered the cage first, unlike his compatriots, who received far from a top fighter as an opponent.

As Tokov himself admitted, initially he was supposed to fight with ex-contender for the belt John Salter, but it did not work out, after which they were ready to organize a duel with the second rating number - Austin Vanderford.

The problem is that they wanted to fight in August, but by that time the Russian's American visa was expiring.

And in order not to take risks, Anatoly had to refuse a tempting offer.

As a result, promotional debutant Muhammad Abdullah was put up against him, who still could not boast of an impressive track record.

He won only 11 out of 16 fights, despite the fact that he had previously fought exclusively in regional leagues with not the strongest opponents.

Relatively well-known include the former rival of Andrei Koreshkov - Sabah Homasi and Dequan Townsend, who played in the UFC.

True, he lost four times in a row in the Absolute Fighting Championship, after which he was fired.

As expected, the struggle in this duel did not work out.

It took only 148 seconds for Tokov to deal with Abdullah, and he signed his own sentence.

An awkward front-kick attempt ended with the comical fall of Mohammad, which Anatoly immediately took advantage of.

In a matter of seconds, he secured himself in the back mount and tightly closed the lock on the opponent's body.

Over time, sweeping blows rained down on the American's head, and the lack of resistance on his part forced the referee to stop the fight.

The Russian extended his unbeaten streak to seven fights and won by knockout for the 17th time.

The only problem is that defeating such an opponent is unlikely to allow him to rise to the top 3 of the Bellator middleweight and finally get the title of the first contender.

Unlike his compatriot, success at Bellator 282 could well have given Chablius the opportunity to make a jump in the rankings and get the opportunity to face off against Patrika Freire.

After all, he was opposed by ex-champion Brent Primus, who was on the second line in the list of the organization's strongest lightweights.

In October, the American beat Benson Henderson in a tense fight and stopped one step away from the title.

And it was extremely interesting to see if Alexander could handle one of the best grapplers in the category.

Surely it was worth assuming that Primus would try to bring Shablis to the ground at the first opportunity.

But he suddenly decided to work on his feet.

During the first round, he did not make a single attempt to pass to the legs and preferred to exchange in the rack.

And not to say that he succeeded in this.

The Russian was more accurate, sharper, and in the middle of the segment he completely sent Brent to the canvas.

The right straight line hit the target.

The American, on the other hand, made many lunges forward and often kicked, but either hit the defense or missed.

As a result, it was Primus' overconfidence in his striking technique, coupled with an unjustified stake on high-kicks, that let Primus down.

In the second round, he tried several more times to use this element, but only became an easy target for lightning-fast counterattacks.

Shablis finally saw through the opponent and began not only to “fail” him, but also to answer.

The first alarm bell sounded at the 65th second, when Alexander punished Brent with a powerful left hook for trying to get involved in close combat.

And very soon he again blocked a kick to the head, answering with a devastating deuce.

The American staggered, and a second later collapsed onto the canvas.

It wasn't hard to beat him.

Shablis took his third Bellator win and won by stoppage for the first time since December 2017.

Then he knocked out Miroslav Strbak at the Fight Nights Global 82 tournament, after which he brought the matter to the decision of the judges four times in a row.

And it is possible that such a bright performance will allow him to attract the attention of matchmakers and become the first contender.

Among the representatives of the top 10 lightweights, only Usman Nurmagomedov can boast such a long unbeaten streak.

But in his case, the level of opponents was noticeably lower.

Magomed Magomedov also had to pass a serious test.

And it's not just that Enrique Barzola was standing opposite him, who previously showed himself pretty well in the UFC.

The Russian returned to the cage after a ten-month downtime and a heavy defeat from Raufeon Stots.

He approached that battle as a clear favorite, but could not do anything with the current interim champion.

And the upcoming battle was to demonstrate whether the Tiger had learned from that failure and whether he had broken down psychologically.

The first round did not give a clear answer to this question.

Yes, Magomedov managed several dangerous counterattacks, including a roundhouse backfist and a couple of accurate straight lines to the jaw, as well as an amplitude takedown.

But even this did not allow us to give him five minutes with confidence.

The Russian missed several heavy shots and two passes to the legs.

Moreover, in the second case, he allowed Barsola to briefly gain a foothold behind his back.

And although he failed to perform anything impressive, fears were inspired by the ease with which Enrique transferred the opponent to the ground.

In the second round, Barzola continued to dominate the fight.

He laid Magomedov on the floor twice more, while he himself blocked the only takedown attempt.

Moreover, the Peruvian did not limit himself to banal control and almost held a choke D'Arsa.

He twice managed to close the lock on the opponent's neck, but he got out.

At the same time, Enrique looked noticeably weaker in the standing position and, although he worked as the first number, he missed enough.

The most memorable was the sweeping turntable on the body, which landed exactly in the South American's liver.

Magomedov failed to take the initiative in the third period either.

Yes, he limited himself to one missed takedown and quickly got up, but the superiority in the stance was no longer so serious.

On a collision course, he still looked great and even managed to shock Barsola, but he suddenly found happiness in "dirty boxing".

Several times he managed to knit a Russian in the clinch and punch a series of uppercuts in the style of Daniel Cormier.

And although there was no smell of a knockout, the five-minute period could well have been lost.

Thus, Magomedov found himself in a difficult position.

According to former referee John McCarthy, he lost two of the three rounds and had only ten minutes to correct the situation.

But he had less than one and a half.

Finally believing in his wrestling skills, Barsola again threw himself at his feet, but if the first time Magomed only blocked a takedown attempt, then the second time he held a guillotine in a jump.

He tried to fulfill it in the second segment of the battle, but this time everything turned out perfectly.

Enrique had no choice but to surrender.

Magomedov redeemed himself for his loss to Stots and made it to the semi-finals of the Bellator Bantamweight Grand Prix.

For reaching the decisive round, he will compete with Patchi Mix, a 28-year-old American who is on a series of three victories in a row.

In the last battle, he proved to be stronger than Kyoji Horiguchi, the former contender for the UFC title.

And one of the main events of the evening was the sensational defeat of Gegard Mousasi.

The legendary Dutchman was considered the favorite in the fight with Johnny Eblin, but looked weaker both in the stance and on the ground.

In the very first round, the American knocked down the champion, and during the rest of the fight he repeatedly laid him on the canvas, thanks to which he completely exhausted him.

In the end, all five judges sided with Eblin (50-45).