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TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR FIGHTS: 3,302+
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR EVENTS: 296+
Bellator MMA laughed in the face of the Ultimate Fighting Championship brass by holding not one but two fight cards in Hawaii over the weekend. The lineups saw plenty of shifting ahead of fight nights due to some unprofessional athletes, but a pair of championship matches made it to the finish line. Bellators 294 and 295 featured great success for local competitors, a shocking late comeback and the most expensive knee in combat sports.
Bellator 294
Deepest of Waters: In the championship rounds, Liz Carmouche staged a comeback to tap out DeAnna Bennett with an arm-triangle choke. She becomes the second fighter in organizational history after Cristiane Justino “Cyborg” to perform multiple finishes after Round 3, having previously stopped Julianna Velasquez with strikes in the fourth frame at Bellator 278.
Not How This Works at All: While the decision is typically left to the commission or promotion, champion Carmouche made the choice to stake her belt on the Bellator 294 main event despite the challenger missing weight. Should she have lost, the title would have been vacated, but her victory earned her a successful title retention.
An Asterisk Next to Two: The defense for Carmouche was her second, making her the fourth woman to register multiple defenses on a Bellator title run. The only women to do so before her were Julia Budd, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and Justino.
Ruling Over a Smaller Pond: Five of the six Bellator showings by Carmouche have ended with her recording a stoppage. She is now two shy of the promotional record for the most finishes by a female fighter, held by Macfarlane.
They Should Have Known: Bennett became the third fighter in company history to officially miss weight for a title fight and still compete at the event. Like Rafael Silva back in 2014 for the interim bantamweight strap, Bennett was unsuccessful at keeping the belt vacant.
Blanked: For the first time her career, Bennett lost twice against an opponent. Her prior series with Karina Rodriguez, Miranda Maverick and Justine Kish all resulted in at least one win against each woman.
Two Up: The successful Bellator and featherweight debut for Sara McMann came by decision over Arlene Blencowe. The wrestler has won two straight times on the scorecards, achieving this for the first time since a pair of victories in 2012.
Grumpyfist: Blencowe suffered her sixth defeat on the Bellator roster when she fell short to McMann. “Angerfist” is now tied with Alejandra Lara for the most defeats of any female Bellator competitor.
Talked the Talk: In the second round, Danny Sabatello hit a rear-naked choke on Marcos Breno. The brash Floridian performed his first stoppage under the Bellator banner, and broke a series of six straight fights – including three five-rounders – that went the distance.
WJF Graduate: Georgia’s Levan Chokheli picked up a unanimous nod from the judges over Michael Lombardo to put himself on his first win streak since 2020. The 26-year-old lowered his finish rate to 75% with the triumph, with all three victories in Bellator by decision.
Kountdown with Killys: By performing a rear-naked choke on Kenneth Cross, Killys Mota claimed his 15th professional victory. Six of those have come by knockout, and now five are by submission. Four of the Teixeira MMA & Fitness fighter’s wins were by decision. On the other side, Mota has lost three times, with two knockouts and one on the scorecards on his ledger.
You Know What You Did, Sir: For the fifth time in organizational history, a bout ended by disqualification. Sergey Bilostenniy landed punches to the back of Tyrell Fortune’s head to get the fight waved off. No past Bellator fight had ever ended in such a fashion.
Any Way He Can Muster: With the win coming by DQ, Fortune amassed his 13th win with Bellator. He and Cheick Kongo are now tied for the most in the history of Bellator’s heavyweight division.
A Stock-Down Submission Win: After checking in over six pounds heavy, Cris Lencioni landed an extremely rare rear triangle choke submission on Blake Smith – considered by some to be an inverted triangle. Just six such chokes had taken place under the Bellator lights before this one.
Bellator 295
No Prelim Sacrifices to Be Had: From the second match on the billing to the main card opener, seven consecutive bouts went the distance. This stretch of seven straight full-length matches is the new most for the promotion.
Million-Dollar Mix: To pick up the $1 million check, claim the interim bantamweight throne and punch his ticket to unify the bantamweight belts, Patrick Mix blew Raufeon Stots out of the water with a knee in 80 seconds. His is the seventh-fastest finish in Bellator championship history.
Mixing Things Up: With a finish rate moving up to 78%, and his sixth stoppage across seven Bellator wins, Mix performed his first knockout in over four years by posterizing Stots. It is just the second career win via strikes for the Angola, New York, native.
Hawaiian Spotlight: Earning win no. 12 in Bellator by snagging a razor-close split decision over Kana Watanabe, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane boosted her own promotional record among all female fighters. No woman on the roster holds more than eight (Blencowe).
The Crowd Went Wild: In front of his fans, Hawaii’s Yancy Medeiros put Charlie Leary away with a rear-naked choke in the opening round. “The Kid” lifted his pro finish rate to 76% in the process, while picking up his first submission victory since September 2016.
Playing with His Food: For just the second time in his career, Aaron Pico left things in the hands of the judges. Pico required the entire 15-minute allotment to get his hand raised against late replacement James Gonzalez.
Feature-Length Kai: Kai Kamaka III put himself on his first win streak since 2020 by securing a decision over Adli Edwards in his home state. The Waipahu native has earned nine of 11 victories on the scorecards.
A Young 32: After three rounds of combat, Sumiko Inaba outworked Veta Arteaga to boost her early record to 6-0. Since starting her career with four straight stoppages, the 32-year-old has gone the distance in her last outings.
No Victory for Veta: With all but one of her professional appearances coming in the Bellator cage, Arteaga suffered her fifth loss on the roster by coming up short against Inaba. She is now one defeat shy of the record held by the aforementioned Lara and Blencowe.
Brutal Bruna: Brazil’s Bruna Ellen outpointed Ilara Joanne to earn the victory, and move her alternating win/loss pattern to seven straight fights. Ellen has heard the final bell in her last nine bouts, win or lose.
More Like Punchuiri: Starting off the night with a boom, Masayuki Kikuiri blasted Alexey Shurkevich with a short punch combination to earn the knockout in Round 2. The Japanese fighter has recorded exactly two-thirds of his pro wins via strikes, and all but have taken place within two rounds.
Never Say Never Again: Coming into Bellator 294 and 295, Watanabe had never lost on the scorecards (13 fights), Kasim Aras had never been beaten (one loss by disqualification due to biting) and four competitors across the events had never dropped consecutive bouts (Smith, Anthony Adams, Edwards and Bobby King).