Rory MacDonald did not inspire much confidence in his future as champion with his latest performance.
MacDonald retained his 170-pound title and advanced to the semifinals of the Bellator MMA welterweight grand prix in a majority draw with Jon Fitch in the Bellator 220 main event on Saturday at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. Judge Anthony Maness saw it 48-46 for Fitch, while Ron McCarthy and Mike Bell each struck 47-47 scorecards.
Despite meeting with early adversity and being soundly outstruck in all the standup exchanges, Fitch was relentless. He shut down MacDonald with takedowns, positional control and ground-and-pound in the third round, where he started the process of grinding his way to the finish line. Fitch staggered on the end of a standing elbow strike from the Canadian in Round 4 but countered with another takedown and more suffocating pressure from the top before riding his momentum through the final five minutes of the fight. However, his inability to finish afforded MacDonald a narrow window through which to survive and advance to a semifinal date with the undefeated Neiman Gracie on June 14.
In the aftermath of Bellator 220 “MacDonald vs. Fitch,” here are four matches that ought to be made:
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane vs. Veta Arteaga or Juliana Velasquez: Hollywood may want to consider Macfarlane as a lead in its next slasher film franchise. The Hawaiian kept her stranglehold on the women’s flyweight division, as she stopped Arteaga on a gruesome cut in the third round of their co-headliner. Referee Jason Herzog waved it off on the advice of the cageside physician 1:50 into Round 3. Arteaga gave the champion a run for her money, but in the middle stanza, Macfarlane assumed top position and drove an elbow into her counterpart’s forehead. Blood instantly gushed from a deep horizontal wound and soon after resulted in the stoppage. Macfarlane has vowed to give Arteaga an immediate rematch, but if those plans fail to come to fruition, Velasquez figures to be next in line. The 32-year-old Brazilian has won all eight of her fights as a professional, the last three of them in Bellator.
Benson Henderson vs. Michael Chandler-Patricio Freire winner: Henderson extended his winning streak to three fights with a split decision over Adam Piccolotti in a riveting lightweight showcase. All three judges scored it 29-28, two of them siding with the MMA Lab cornerstone. Henderson was forced to scratch and claw for every inch of ground he gained against Piccolotti, an American Kickboxing Academy export who raised his profile in a spirited defeat. Chandler -- who defeated Henderson by split decision in November 2016 -- will defend his lightweight title in a champion-versus-champion superfight with reigning featherweight boss “Pitbull” Freire at Bellator 221 on May 11.
Phil Davis vs. Vadim Nemkov: In one of the more complete performances of his career, Davis put away fellow former light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary with punches in the third round of their rematch. McGeary waved the white flag 4:11 into Round 3 after he appeared to suffer a broken jaw. Davis controlled vast stretches of the fight with a steady stream of leg kicks that limited his opponent’s mobility and made him more vulnerable to punches and takedowns. “Mr. Wonderful” cracked McGeary with a short but damaging left hand in the third round that had the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt wincing in pain and eventually led to his decision to tap out. Davis desires a rematch with current 205-pound titleholder Ryan Bader even though he did not name names, but the split verdict he surrendered to Nemkov in November remains an issue he needs to resolve.
Gaston Bolanos vs. Sam Sicilia: The surging Bolanos recorded his fourth knockout in as many appearances, as he disposed of Nathan Stolen with punches in the first round of their featherweight feature. Stolen met his end 2:21 into Round 1. Bolanos engaged the King of the Cage alum on the feet, sat him down when they connected with dueling left hooks and sealed the deal with follow-up punches on the ground. An emerging talent in Bellator’s featherweight division, “The Dreamkiller” has shown no ill effects from his 2017 technical submission loss to Brandon Laroco and should be due for a step up in competition. Sicilia last fought at Bellator 212 on Dec. 14, when he escaped with a split decision over Derek Campos and improved to 2-1 under the Bellator MMA banner.