Gegard Mousasi became the Bellator MMA middleweight champion Friday by defeating Rafael Carvalho by technical knockout less than four minutes into their Bellator 200 main event bout.
Mousasi has now won seven consecutive fights dating back to 2016 when he competed in the UFC became the first fighter to hold titles in both Bellator and the defunct Strikeforce promotion.
After his win he called out Bellator’s welterweight champion, Rory MacDonald, and the Canadian had no issues accepting the challenge.
Let’s do this, Champ. This is what the fans need. We are in.
— Gegard Mousasi (@mousasi_mma) May 26, 2018
The event took place at The SSE Arena, Wembley in London, England. The original headliner was supposed to be Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Roy Nelson in a battle of popular heavyweight veterans but Filipovic suffered an injury earlier in the week and was forced to withdraw from the event.
Undefeated welterweight star Michael “Venom” Page put on a show for the home crowd and embarrassed David Rickels, making the American quit with a verbal submission due to strikes 43 seconds into the second round.
Also on the card, Phil Davis made quick work of fellow former Bellator light-heavyweight champion Linton Vassell by landing a fight-finishing head kick just 65 seconds into their 205-pound tilt. It was the 19th win of Davis’s career but just his fourth via knockout or TKO.
Here are the complete results from Bellator 200:
MAIN CARD
— Gegard Mousasi def. Rafael Carvalho by TKO
— Michael Page def. David Rickels by TKO (verbal submission)
— Aaron Chalmers def. Ash Griffiths by submission (guillotine choke)
— Mike Shipman def. Carl Noon by TKO
— Kate Jackson def. Anastasia Yankova by unanimous decision
— Phil Davis def. Linton Vassell by knockout
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Jahreau Shephard def. Marcin Zywica by TKO (doctor stoppage)
— Walter Gahadza def. Kent Kauppinen by submission (rear-naked choke)
— Amir Albazi def. Iurie Bejenari by submission (rear-naked choke)
— Charlie Leary def. Tom Green by TKO
— Charlie Ward def. Martin Hudson by TKO
— Pedro Carvalho def. Daniel Crawford by split decision
— Anatoly Tokov def. Vladimir Filipovic by submission (guillotine choke)
— Costello Van Steenis def. Kevin Fryer by TKO
— Mike Ekundayo def. Tom Mearns by submission (arm injury)
[relatedlinks]
