Bellator 203: Pitbull vs. Weichel 2 results and highlights – Freire keeps title via decision

Bellator 203 went down in Rome, Italy earlier today and aired via tape delay on Paramount. It ended up being a pretty entertaining card with a lot of finishes, capped off by a back-and-forth title fight that ended via split decision. Coming one day after a Bellator 202 event in the US, it might not get a lot of attention, but it had some quality action.

In what would normally have been the main event but actually went on second-to-last live, Patricio Freire managed to hold off Daniel Weichel to keep his featherweight title. In the co-main (which went on last in the arena due to the local fighter), Alessio Sakara picked up a quick TKO victory.

Patricio Pitbull defeated Daniel Weichel via split decision (49-46, 47-48, 49-47)

The fight got off to a pretty slow start, as the two men felt each other out. Pitbull got the better of a nothing round though. Things picked up in the second, where Pitbull hurt Weichel on the feet in an exchange of big power punches. Weichel looked to take the fight to the floor but ended up on his back for a long period of time. Things turned around in the third when Weichel got his own takedown and controlled on top. He landed some good shots there to get back into the fight, and even had an anaconda choke which the champ had to fend off. Pitbull responded in the fourth, hurting Weichel again but not getting the finish after throwing him to the mat. Weichel fared better in the fifth but was unable to muster up enough to get the win, and the third round was really the only one he clearly won. This was Patricio’s first defense of the title he won back from Daniel Straus more than a year ago, and he’s snapped the four-fight winning streak of the German.

Alessio Sakara defeated Jamie Sloane via TKO (punches), 1:19 of round 1

This was short but action-packed. They brawled a bunch, but Sakara ended up hurting Sloane rather quickly, and eventually pounded Sloane out with a series of left hands on the ground to get the W in front of his home fans.

Andrey Koreshkov defeated Vaso Bakocevic via KO (spinning back kick), 1:06 of round 1

There was one bit of action here, and it closed out the fight – a beautiful spinning back kick to the liver from the former Bellator champ that crumpled his opponent to the mat, unable to continue. Koreshkov threw two more punches for good measure before the ref stepped in.

Alen Amedovski defeated Will Fleury via KO (punch), 1:39 of round 1

Amedovski opened well, but got taken down by Fleury. He managed to get back to his feet though, and lit Fleury up with big right hands that put him out. It’s a Bellator debut loss for Fleury, who is a teammate of Conor McGregor at SBG Ireland.

Maxim Radu defeated Simone La Preziosa via TKO (punches), 4:15 of round 1

Radu got a quick takedown and looked for a sub, but couldn’t get it. While Le Preziosa escaped that particularly danger, Radu completely controlled from the top, and then eventually got in a spot where he could land good GnP to end the fight.