Join us tonight (Saturday, September 23rd) on Bloody Elbow for live results, streaming video (prelims) and detailed play-by-play as Bellator 183 comes to you from the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The headliner is a good one, as former WEC and UFC lightweight champion Ben Henderson takes on perennial Bellator lightweight contender Patricky “Pitbull” Freire. Henderson already has an injury TKO win over Bellator featherweight champ Patricio Freire, so Patricky is looking to avenge his brother’s defeat and also come that much closer to securing a title shot.
Also of note on the main card is the dynamite welterweight co-main event between strikers Lorenz Larkin and Paul Daley, who got into it at Friday’s weigh-ins. The Bellator debut of Roy Nelson is also on tap, as he battles the upset-minded Javy Ayala, who was last seen knocking out Sergey Kharitonov in under 20 seconds. Super-prospect Aaron Pico is looking for a victory after a disastrous debut vs. Zach Freeman, and he’ll be dropping to featherweight to face Justin Linn. Opening the main card is a lightweight bout between Goiti Yamauchi and AKA’s Adam Piccolotti.
You can watch all of the prelim action starting at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT by viewing the video stream at the top of the page. Also an option is streaming the prelims on Twitter, which is a first for Bellator MMA. Things then move to Spike TV for the five-fight main card at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT.
Be sure to check out Zane Simon, Victor Rodriguez, and Eddie Mercado on The MMA Vivisection.
Bellator 183’s lineup is as follows:
Main Card (Spike, 9 PM ET)
Ben Henderson vs. Patricky Freire
Round 1 – Leg kick by Patricky to get things going in the main event. Henderson attacks the lead leg of the Brazilian. Freire sidesteps Henderson’s surge forward. Sharp body kick by Bendo. Good right hand by Freire. Henderson stumbles but I don’t know if he got hit or if he slipped. It’s probably the latter. Another leg kick by Pitbull. Henderson misses on a superman punch. Brutal body kick by Henderson. Straight left partially blocked by Pitbull, who throws a spinning back kick which hits Henderson on the arm. Kick by Henderson and then he poked Patricky in the eye, so action halts for a moment. The fight resumes with a right body kick by Freire. Jumping switch kick by Henderson, then Pitbull escapes the takedown. Head kick is blocked by Henderson. Glancing left hook from Freire. Good leg kick by Pitbull. Sweeping left by Pitbull after Henderson hit Patricky with a right. Pitbull with the leg kick once more. Close round but 10-9 Pitbull.
Round 2 – Takedown attempt by Henderson and Pitbull sprawls. Flying knee by Pitbull is not close but he cracks Henderson with an uppercut. Great straight left by Henderson snaps Patricky’s head back. Henderson just did a thigh punch because… yeah! Now he’s in deep on a double leg against the fence, but Pitbull is fighting the hands and staying upright. Henderson switches to a single, Pitbull grabs the fence, now Henderson goes back to the double. Henderson is trying hard to put Freire on his back and he can’t quite get him down. Great takedown defense by Pitbull thus far. Henderson with some kicks to the leg and some foot stomps. Henderson eats a flying knee while holding onto Pitbull’s right leg! That was something. He’s still on the leg and still can’t get the Brazilian to the canvas. This has been going on for two minutes solid. Elbows to the side of the head by Pitbull as the crowd bemoans the lack of exciting moments. A knee in the clinch by Henderson as they turn each other around and fight to a relative stalemate, but then Patricky takes Henderson down for just a split second before the round ends. 20-18 Pitbull.
Round 3 – Henderson ducks under for a takedown and can’t get it, even in the center of the cage. They trade kicks, with Patricky going to the leg and body and Henderson just to the body. Brief flurry yields almost nothing substantive. Henderson checks a kick.Nice knee by Pitbull and Henderson has another takedown stuffed. They may have just clashed heads as Henderson went down and it didn’t look like it was from a punch. Two fantastic body kicks by Bendo, then a leg kick. Henderson with a big left hand and Patricky eats that shot well. Slow head kick loses steam by the time it hits Pitbull’s head. Left hok glances the top of Henderson’s head. Pitbull forced to defend Henderson’s double leg, and then he takes an upward elbow. Patricky retaliates with own elbow. One minute to go as the crowd boos. Pitbull separates and lands a right hand. Henderson with a jumping knee. Good right hand by Henderson again. Left hook by Pitbull. Body kick by Henderson, then one more time. Five seconds left and neither man throws a strike during that span. 30-27 Pitbull is my scorecard but we could see scorecards all over the place. Rounds 1 and 3 were close.
Official result: Patricky Pitbull def. Ben Henderson by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Round 1 – No glove touch for these two! Mike Beltran is the referee and the co-main event is underway. Daley begins with an outside leg kick and then a kick to the body. Another kick by Daley, as Larkin is very patient early on, even if the crowd is impatient. Leg kick for Larkin and then he slips Daley’s jab. Hard leg kick by Daley again. An equally hard one by Larkin in return. Side kick to the stomach by Larkin. Straight right by Larkin backs Daley up momentarily. Another leg kick and then a left hook by Larkin. Hard right hand tags Daley cleanly! Left hook to the body by Daley and then his head kick attempt puts him off balance and he’s on his back. Larkin pounces but Daley, of all things, goes for a triangle choke. Lorenz bypasses that and gets to side control with 30 seconds to go in the round. Big right hands by Larkin on the ground to end the opening frame. 10-9 Larkin.
Round 2 – Front kick by Larkin nearly gets to Daley’s chin. Sloppy right by Daley and Larkin easily ducks under and puts Paul up against the fence. Larkin trying to trip Daley from the body lock, as the ref implores them to do something. Daley muscles Larkin away and lands a good punch. He goes for the takedown on Larkin, but “Da Monsoon” defends it. Knee by Daley to the chest. They both swing and miss and clinch again. This is a weird fight. Good knee to the body by Larkin. Spinning backfist try by Daley. Left hook rocks Larkin! Another left hook puts Larkin down and it is all over! WOW!
Official result: Paul Daley def. Lorenz Larkin by KO (punches) at 2:40 of round 2
Round 1 – Head kick by Ayala right away skims across Nelson’s beard. Hard leg kick by Ayala buckles Nelson’s lead leg. Basic 1-2 and then a knee by Ayala, who is off to a great start. Uppercut by Ayala connects. Nelson is scarcely throwing anything of consequence. He does throw a right to the body and then misses on the windmill right to the head. Another right hand just clips Ayala on the nose. Takedown attempt by Nelson as he’s in on a double against the fence. Nelson completes it and is throwing punches from half-guard. Roy is looking to pass to side control and he eats an elbow from Ayala. Nelson is going for a kimura, now he has full mount. Americana by Nelson but Ayala explodes out of it and back to his feet. Big knee by Ayala that catches Nelson clean in the closing seconds. 10-9 Ayala.
Round 2 – Ayala begins round 2 with a body kick. Right cross by Nelson definitely stopped Ayala momentarily. Body kick by Ayala and he is trading in the pocket with Nelson, but now Roy changes levels and gets Javy down again. Nelson working from half-guard and he had Ayala’s left arm trapped but now it’s free. He’s staying busy with punches and keeping Ayala on his back. Ayala’s right arm is underneath Nelson’s knee, now it’s not. Ground-and-pound from Nelson and he looks for the back. He has one hook in, now two hooks! Still two minutes to go but Ayala spins and escapes! Now he’s back to his feet, takes down Nelson briefly, then kicks him in the head on the way up. Front kick has hurt Nelson! But now Nelson comes back with an uppercut and Ayala takes it! Nelson with the takedown once more in this crazy round. Big elbows from Nelson up against the fence. 10-9 Nelson and 19-19 after 2.
Round 3 – Head kick and a flying knee by Ayala straight away. This is so nutty. Ayala with a massive right tags Nelson! Roy misses with a right and then connects on a body kick. Vicious leg kick has Nelson retreating. Ayala with a good jab and then he misses on an elbow. Another level change and Nelson has Ayala horizontal once more. This time Nelson has side control, and he’s nearly trapped the left arm. Ayala trying to push off by using the cage but Nelson stays heavy on him. Two minutes to go and Nelson is going for an Americana on Ayala’s left arm. It’s not really locked in and Ayala momentarily shakes Nelson off. Nelson is back in side control with 90 seconds, the crowd is booing for some reason, maybe thinking this would be a slugfest. “Big Country” is in control with one minute remaining. Knee to the body by Nelson as Ayala looks just about out of ideas. Nelson with a bunch of right hands to the noggin of Ayala to end the fight, and they embrace after the final bell. 10-9 Nelson and 29-28 Nelson on my (obviously) unofficial scorecard.
Official result: Roy Nelson def. Javy Ayala by unanimous decision (30-26, 29-28, 29-28)
Round 1 – Pico pops the jab out. Gets clipped with a counter left hook by Linn. Body shot by Pico and he takes Linn for a ride. He has Linn’s back and is throwing some hard right hands. Linn rolls, throws his legs up, but Pico stays on him and fires off some lefts. Pico stands up, Linn is chilling on the ground, so the referee stands Linn up. Nice right hand by Linn. Pico fires back with fast hands and an onslaught of punches against the fence. He is teeing off on Linn and while he’s landing some punches he’s also missing a lot of these! It’s a slugfest! What a sequence! Pico gets tagged again but he gets another takedown. The ground-and-pound from Pico is quite powerful. He rains down the elbows and punches and then gets out of Linn’s guard, so it’s back to striking with 85 seconds left in the round. Head kick by Linn is blocked. A massive left hook by Pico has utterly destroyed Justin Linn! He is completely out of it! Aaron Pico’s first win is a surefire KO of the Year contender.
Official result: Aaron Pico def. Justin Linn by KO (left hook) at 3:45 of round 1
Adam Piccolotti vs. Goiti Yamauchi
Round 1 – Josh Rosenthal (remember him?) is the referee. Leg kicks are traded in the first 15 seconds. Nice head kick by Yamauchi! Flying knee by Yamauchi and then he jumps on a guillotine right away. Is it tight? Doesn’t look like it so far. He changes things up and goes for an anaconda choke, then an omoplata. Piccolotti is back to his feet, but Yamauchi has a hold of his leg and is now draped over his back against the fence. Piccolotti just can’t shake him off, try as he might. What a back take by Yamauchi! Standing rear-naked choke is locked in. He drops to the floor and Piccolotti has surely got to tap, and he does! That was some beautiful jiu-jitsu.
Official result: Goiti Yamauchi def. Adam Piccolotti by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:19 of round 1
Preliminary Card (7 PM ET, Online)*
Tony Johnson def. Mike Ortega by KO (punch) at 1:49 of R2
Kaytlin Neil def. Brooke Mayo via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Brandon Laroco def. Gaston Bolanos by technical submission (Triangle) at 2:16 of R2
Jaymee Nievara def. Corina Herrera by unanimous decision (30-26, 29-28, 29-27)
Fernando Gonzalez def. Alex Lopez by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Ricardo Vasquez def. Justin Tenedora by submission (Guillotine)
JJ Okanovich def. Luis Jauregui by submission (Armbar) at :42 of round 1
Daniel Gonzalez def. Anthony Castrejon by KO at 4:03 of round 1
*- Some of these fights will not air on the live stream.
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