Fight Facts: Bellator 260

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR FIGHTS: 2,898
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR EVENTS: 262

Bellator MMA staged a well-built event and welcomed fans back into the building for Bellator 260. A title fight and multiple potential contender matches went down through the card, but only one underdog had their hand raised at night’s end. This card added one more country to the list of major champions, while featuring a duet of snake-like chokes and an unusual variation on a favored submission.

I Have Had It with These Mister Falconing Snakes: Not one but two anaconda chokes were performed throughout the night at Bellator 260. This event is the first in company history to see two anaconda chokes take place.

Clap If You Love Dynamo: Yaroslav Amosov advanced his perfect record to 26-0 by taking a relatively one-sided decision over Douglas Lima to earn the welterweight strap. “Dynamo” currently holds the best undefeated record of any fighter to compete for a major organization.

Ukraine’s Secret Weapon: Amosov is now the first fighter in major MMA competition from the Ukraine to hold a championship belt, having wrested it from Lima.

Jackson? He Looks Like a Jackson: Winner of five fights in a row – all by unanimous verdict – Jason Jackson placed himself on the longest win streak of his career by defeating Paul Daley.

Picograms of Talent: Aaron Pico kept his 100 percent finish rate intact by tapping Aiden Lee with an anaconda choke. In doing so, he became the fourth featherweight to land this submission – featherweights have pulled off more anaconda chokes than any other weight category in Bellator history.

Many More Where That Came From: As all of Pico’s bouts have come under the Bellator banner, and he earned his eighth stoppage as a pro, he now sits with the third-most finishes in Bellator featherweight history. Only A.J. McKee (11) and Patricio Freire (12) have earned more.

Not So Fearless Anymore: The choke that Pico performed on Lee marked the first time that the Brit had ever been submitted. Most of the Fearless MMA product’s own victories had come by tapout, with all but one by rear-naked choke.

Snake-Delayed: Of all the anaconda chokes to take place inside the Bellator cage, Pico’s is the first to come in Round 3 and just the second after the opening frame.

Welcome to America: After three grueling rounds, Kyle Crutchmer got his hand raised against Levan Chokheli by unanimous decision. Not only was it the first time that the Georgian had ever been defeated, but it was the first time he had ever exited the first round in his 11-fight career.

All Aboard the J-Train: By narrow split verdict, Justin Gonzales defeated Tywan Claxton to lift his spotless record to 12-0. “J-Train” has won over half his career fights by decision, but it was his first that was not unanimous on all three scorecards.

Force Choke: An anaconda choke in the first round for Lucas Brennan over Matt Skibicki advanced the former’s record to a perfect 5-0 as a pro. “Skywalker” has landed all three of his submission wins in the opening frame, while his lone knockout came in Round 2, along with a three-round decision to his credit.

Scared Straight: In the first fight of the night, Alex Polizzi snared Gustavo Trujillo with an unusual straight armbar maneuver. That submission is just the second of its kind in Bellator history, with the first coming from Jason Lambert over Hector Ramirez at Bellator 85 in 2013.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into Bellator 260, Pico had never reached the third round (10 fights), Claxton (eight fights) and Nick Newell (19 fights) have never dropped consecutive bouts and Marina Mokhnatkina had never won on the scorecards (six fights).