Patchy Mix narrowly prevented catastrophe.
The 30-year-old American defended his Bellator bantamweight title with a cut up resolution over Russian rival Magomed Magomedov on Friday at Accor Area in the principle occasion of Bellator Paris. Two judges scored the competition 48-47 for Combine, whereas the lone dissenter had it 49-46 for Magomedov.
“I feel he simply got here ready and that is two high-level guys, so I suppose it was a high-level contested combat, for certain,” a relieved Combine mentioned afterward.
Combine (20-1) beforehand choked Magomedov (20-4) unconscious with a second-round guillotine choke of their first assembly on the Bellator bantamweight grand prix semifinal in December 2022, nevertheless Friday’s rematch was considerably extra aggressive.
Magomedov harm Combine early within the opening spherical with a pair of arduous punches that set the tone for the back-and-forth battle that adopted. Combine then seized again momentum within the second and third rounds when he jumped onto two extra tight guillotine chokes and practically repeated historical past. The third-round try, particularly, was the closest anybody got here to discovering a end, however Magomedov escaped and continued to pepper the champ with strikes from distance.
The championship rounds adopted an analogous theme, as Combine labored his jab and hunted for a sequence of unsuccessful takedowns alongside the fence, whereas Magomedov blended his assault from vary. Magomedov finally out-landed Combine by a tally of 86-79 in whole strikes, however Combine’s workrate was sufficient to offer him the nod in two judges’ eyes, securing his first profitable protection of the Bellator bantamweight belt.
Afterward, Combine referred to as out one-time Bellator title challenger Leandro Higo for his subsequent title protection.
Trending Merchandise
