Jessica Middleton lands a clean punch against Alice Yauger during their encounter at Bellator 171 last Jan. 27. (Photo : YouTube/BellatorMMA)
Bellator is one of the fastest growing mixed martial arts promotions out there today. Just recently, they had a fight card, which featured UFC veterans Tito Ortiz and Chael Sonnen duking it out in the main event. They looked to repeat this spectacle at their latest event, where they pitted 54-fight journeyman Melvin Guillard against Chidi Njokuani, who was on an eight-fight win streak.
The main card kicked off with AJ McKee taking on Brandon Philips, with the former having a sizeable reach advantage. It was a back and forth contest between the two, which also focused more on the standup game rather than taking the fight to the ground. Two judges for the bout scored it 29-28 in favor of the still undefeated McKee, while the third scored it 30-27 in the same direction, MMA Weekly reported.
Female fighters are now also getting opportunities in the Bellator main card, with Jessica Middleton taking on Alice Yauger in a flyweight contest. Both fighters came charging out the gate with bad intentions, looking to finish the fight as soon as possible. Momentum swung to Middleton's favor in the second round and she never looked back, as she took home the unanimous decision nod.
The co-main event of the evening saw six-year Bellator veteran David Rickels taking on Aaron Derrow, with the latter fighting for just the second time in the promotion. Unlike the first two fights in the Bellator 171 main card, this one showcased more of the fighters' ground game after Rickels floored his opposition with a clean, which was followed up with more from the dominant position.
While similar events transpired in the second round of this lightweight fight, it was the third that sent the crowd into a frenzy. Within one minute of the third round, Derrow was once again clipped by well-timed striking, but this time had no answer to the ground and pound that followed. Rickels won the fight via a technical knockout.
The first round of the main event between Guillard and Njokuani started rather slow with various stoppages during the frame. The first was for a prolonged bout of feeling out and measuring each other, while the second and third times were for illegal strikes when Guillard landed a groin shot on Njoukani, who later in the round landed an illicit knee on his downed opponent.
Njoukani then proceeded to dominate when he found himself in a dominant position for the majority of the second round. While the referee stood both fighters back up near the end of the round, Njoukani was able to land a devastating shot to the live, which visibly hurt Guillard, Bloody Elbow reported.
Njoukani once again found top position early on in the third round. He continued his ground and pound from last round at a relentless rate, not allowing Guillard to recover and find his footing. The referee stood them back up once again in the closing moments of the fight, but the unanimous decision (30-25, 30-24, 30-26) victory was already well secured by Njoukani.
Watch the full highlights of Bellator 171 here:
