Fight Facts: Bellator Milan Trilogy

Here are last night's winners from the #BellatorMilan: Euro Series Show.

Did you predict any of these bouts going down the way that they did?#MMA pic.twitter.com/RDY2DsPwxk

— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) October 4, 2020

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: 2,761
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR EVENTS: 249
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR FIGHTS IN MILAN: 35
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR FINISHES IN MILAN: 19

Bellator MMA took a trip to Milan, Italy, and put on three shows in the span of a week. The cards for European fans brought a lot of local names that showed mixed success depending on their nation of origin. These events featured a rare string of decisions, a scorching knockout from a rising kickboxer and a rib-cracker you would have to see to believe.

Some Real Fuzzy Matchmaking :Nine Irish fighters competed across these two events, and of those nine, only one suffered a loss: Kiefer Crosbie.

Anti-Italian Animus :On the other hand, nine Italians competed on these three cards, and just two of nine emerged with wins: Daniele Scatizzi and Chiara Penco.

Nomad MMA :Before the recent five-event residency at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, the promotion had never before hosted more than two consecutive cards in the same building. Bellator staged all three shows in this span in the Allianz Cloud in Milan.

Bellator Milan, Sept. 26

What a Slog :The event ended with six straight decisions, making it the first since Bellator 34 in 2010 to end in such a fashion. Bellator 34 concluded with seven decisions, including two five-round title fights.

Ended with a Thud :The streak of six decisions is the longest since Bellator 206 in 2018.

Kick His Ass, Seabass! Needing three full rounds to beat Pietro Penini, Mike Shipman won his first fight on the scorecards. All 13 previous victories for “Seabass” came inside the distance, with 10 coming in the first round.

Just Scatting Around :Scatizzi – one of the only Italians to win at these events – recorded his first-ever submission win when he tapped Gavin Hughes with a guillotine choke.

Trained for This :British newcomer Luke Trainer is now 4-0 having knocked out Alex O'Toole in 82 seconds. All four wins for “The Gent” have come inside the distance, with half by submission and the other from strikes.

Barbie’s Scream House :Penco – the other Italian to come out with a win at these Bellator shows – finished Aleksandra Toncheva Plamenova with strikes to earn her first career knockout. All of her previous victories came by submission, while “Beasty Barbie” holds both of losses on the scorecards.

Bellator 247

It Will Kiel :Denise Kielholtz earned the quickest knockout in Bellator women’s flyweight history when she starched Kate Jackson in 43 seconds. It was the third-fastest knockout across all women’s divisions in Bellator.

A Great Weekend for Dutchwomen :Kielholtz holds two of the five fastest finish wins in women’s Bellator history, as she previously tapped Sabriye Sengul with a keylock in 32 seconds in 2019.

Deadly Denise :With the first-round stoppage of Jackson, Kielholtz extended her lead for the most first-round finishes of any female Bellator fighter with four. No other woman has more than two.

On a Collision Course :For the fifth time in the Bellator cage, Kielholtz finished an opponent. She now holds the second-most stoppages across all women’s divisions in Bellator, trailing only Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (seven).

Don’t Call Me Junior! Norbert Novenyi Jr. stayed undefeated by tapping Laid Zerhouni with a triangle choke in the first round. Four of Novenyi’s five wins have come by tapout, all within two rounds.

Starting to Become a Problem :Chris Duncan put Iamik Furtado down with punches in the second round to lift his spotless record to 7-0. “The Problem” has finished all seven of his foes.

It’s Been Such a Long Time :Hitting the 10th kneebar in company history at 2:24 of the first round, Lewis Long’s over Giovanni Melillo is the fastest one ever seen under the Bellator banner.

Jury’s Still Out :In just over three minutes, Uros Jurisic tapped Walter Gahadza with a rear-naked choke to advance his perfect record to 11-0. Ten of his wins have come by stoppage, with half by knockout and the other half tapout.

Great Gracies :Throughout Bellator history, eight members of the Gracie lineage have competed a combined 21 times. Although Kywan Gracie dropped a decision to Constantin Gnusarev, Gracies still sport an impressive winning percentage of .667 in their Bellator bouts.

A Regular Xenia Onatopp :On the card opener, Monika Chochlikova made her MMA debut opposite fellow MMA neophyte Jade Jorand. Chochlikova prevailed with a body triangle from her back, crushing Jorand’s ribcage with her legs to elicit a tapout. The first body triangle in Bellator history, in the jiu-jitsu community, the maneuver is called a “scorpion crunch” or “scorpion rib crush.”

Share with Invicta :Chochlikova vs. Jorand is the fifth women’s atomweight match in Bellator history. Four of those five have ended inside the distance since the division’s introduction in 2019 – although two bouts were contested at a Rizin Fighting Federation super atomweight of 108 pounds.

Bellator Milan, Oct. 3

Jimmy Shows Off :James Gallagher submitted bitter rival Callum Ellenor in the first round with a rear-naked choke. In the process, “The Strabanimal” recorded his sixth submission under the Bellator lights, putting him in a seven-way tie for the third-most submission in promotional history. Only Neiman Gracie (seven) and Goiti Yamauchi (have submitted more foes in Bellator).

Choking Hazard :Throughout Gallagher’s career, the Irishman has yet to finish an opponent with strikes. 82 percent of his victories have now come by tapout, by either rear-naked choke or guillotine choke.

Watch That Scar Tissue :With doctor intervention due to a cut the reason for the fight stoppage, Charlie Leary beat Kiefer Crosbie at the end of the first round. Leary is the first man to ever defeat Crosbie, with the Irishman’s prior loss a disqualification when he kneed a downed Mike Jackson in the head at Bellator 224 in 2019. Gokhan Can Go :Gokhan Saricam needed less than three minutes to put away Joffie Houlton in their heavyweight clash. The Turkish fighter has never fought out of the second round after six pro fights.

Never Say Never Again :Coming into the Bellator Milan series, six fighters including Fabian Edwards (nine fights) had never been defeated, six fighters including Crosbie (nine fights) had never been knocked out and four fighters including Ellenor (10 fights) had never been submitted.