Fight Facts: Bellator 287 ‘Piccolotti vs. Barnaoui’

7years 𝘂𝗻𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗻!

A dream start to life in Bellator MMA for @MansourBarnaoui, submitting Adam Piccolotti with a rear-naked choke.#Bellator287 pic.twitter.com/3aBGDiyhYC

— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) October 29, 2022

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: 3,212
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR EVENTS: 289

Bellator MMA packed a whole 17 fights into the Allianz Cloud Arena in Milan, Italy, on Saturday, in an effort to at least partially counterprogram the Ultimate Fighting Championship card going down in Las Vegas. Local fans had little to cheer about other than general mixed martial arts combat, without a single fighter from the area featured in a prime place on the lineup. Bellator 287 featured a rare blank spot for a few betting lines, a brabo choke rarely seen so late in a fight and a traveling samurai who might have just found his home.

No Local Flavor: None of the four main card tilts on Bellator 287, also known as Bellator Milan, featured a single Italian fighter. It marked the first international Bellator offering with no home-country athletes on the main billing since the last time it traveled to Milan in 2020 – although that event only held three bouts on its mail card.

Fans Left the Building After the Prelims: The two Bellator Milan shows on Sept. 29 and in October 2020 are the only non-North American Bellator events without a single local competitor on the main cards. Every other Bellator offering on the Eastern Hemisphere has seen at least one fighter from the region on its main card.

Most Fans Couldn’t Even See These: The first three bouts of Bellator 287 fell under the supervision of Italian MMA federation FederKombat, and as a result, they were part of its lineup but not aired live. These are the first intentionally unaired fights since Bellator 223 in 2019, when Oliver Enkamp vs. Walter Gahadza was a dark postlim posted later that day.

No Fans Could Put Money Down: None of those three matches had internationally available betting odds, which is a rarity for Bellator the last few years. The last time a Bellator fight did not have readily available odds came at the previous Bellator Milan card discussed above.

Welcome to Bellator: In the main event of Bellator 287, Mansour Barnaoui extended his win and finish streak to eight with a rear-naked choke of Adam Piccolotti in his promotional debut. “The Afro-Samurai” propelled his stoppage rate to 95% with the victory.

The Edwards Family Wins Again: Fabian Edwards needed three full rounds to defeat Charlie Ward, and in doing so, picked up his seventh win as a Bellator middleweight. Only four 185ers have won more times in the Bellator cage than Edwards: Johnny Eblen, John Salter and Dan Cramer with eight apiece, and Alexander Shlemenko with 12.

Gone Fishin’: Via clear-cut decision, Justin Gonzales defeated Andrew Fisher. In the 15 career fights for the Top Notch MMA product, Gonzales has fought into the third round in 13 of those outings.

Battle Van: Costello van Steenis landed a brabo choke on Kamil Oniszczuk in their middleweight matchup. Van Steenis is the third middleweight in company history to secure this particular submission, and at 3:02 of Round 2, performed the fourth latest as a Bellator fighter.

Axem Ranger: Following three rounds of action, Alfie Davis picked up the unanimous nod over Thibault Gouti to earn his first win in over two years. “The Axe Man” has gone the distance in his last eight outings, and 10 of his last 11 fights.

Getting in All the Reps: Manuela Marconetto dropped a contentious split decision to Chiara Penco on the prelims. As a pro, “The Butcher’s Daughter” has heard the final bell in every one of her fights to date.

One Drago, Two Dragos: After the midpoint of the second round, Simon Biyong pounded out Dragos Zubco. The Genoa, Italy, product post a career knockout rate of 78% with the win, and six of his last seven victories have come by knockout.

Slower and Steadier: Still early into his professional career, Nicolo Solli recorded his first win on the scorecards by topping Bourama Camara by split decision. His previous triumphs had all come within two rounds.

Training to Be the Best: Luke Trainer bounced back from his first defeat and the first time he had ever involved the judges by tapping out Lucas Alsina in under two minutes. “The Gent” still celebrates a 100% finish rate at a pro, with an equal number of knockouts to rear-naked chokes.

A Nickname Among Nicknames: A perfect 6-0 as a pro by beating Andrea Fusi on the scorecards, “The Hillbilly Hammer” Steven Hill had never before competed beyond the second round in his past professional appearances.

Sarvar for Short: In 61 seconds, Sarvardzhon Khamidov advanced his spotless record to 14-0. The Tajikistan native put Jose Maria Tome down with a body kick and follow-up punches, and thereby snapped his own six-win decision streak.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into Bellator 287, Oniszczuk had never been finished (10 fights), Walter Cogliandro (15 fights) and Alex Bertinazzi (four fights) had never dropped consecutive bouts and Percy Herrera had never been submitted (15 fights).