Bellator 264 highlights: Mousasi smashes Salter, Stots upsets Magomedov

At Bellator 264 Gegard Mousasi put away John Salter in the third round to defend the Bellator Middleweight title, a belt he won (for a second time) last October with a win over Douglas Lima.

Salter earned his shot at Mousasi with an 8-1 run in Bellator with his only loss coming to the since-retired Rafael Lovato Jr. (the man who took Mousasi’s title the previous time he held it).

Against Mousasi Salter was a game opponent for most of the fight, troubling the champ with wrestling and takedowns. However, as the fight wore on Mousasi was able to land more offence on the feet. And at the end of the second round Mousasi was able to reverse a position on the ground and land lots of offence on the mat, too—raining down punches until the sound of the bell.

In the third round Mousasi was able to regain top position. This time there was no bell to save Salter, only the ref. After Salter ate a lot of ground and pound Dan Miragliotta stepped in to wave off the contest.

After the win Mousasi squared off with his next challenger, ‘Mr. VanZant’ Austin Vanderford.

In the co-main event former Bellator welterweight champion Andrey Koreshkov thoroughly beat up Sabah Homasi over three rounds. Homasi showed plenty of grit and toughness against the Russian, but Koreshkov was able to style on his opponent with flying knees and takedowns. The win is the first in the Bellator cage for Koreshkov since he beat Michael Jasper back in 2019. That win was sandwiched between losses to Douglas Lima (in 2018’s welterweight grand prix final) and Lorenz Larkin.

Before that Raufeon Stots and Magomed Magomedov put on a fantastic spectacle in the bantamweight division. And it was Stots who got his hand raised, in somewhat of an upset, after out-wrestling and out-striking the highly touted Dagestani.

The win elevates Stots record to 17-1 and likely means he will soon be seeing some of the elites of Bellator’s bantamweight division. For Magomedov, this is only the second ever loss for the former ACB champ. His only other loss came to recent UFC bantamweight champ Petr Yan.

The most sensational finish of the night came at the hands of heavyweight Davion Franklin. The MMA neophyte went to 4-0 with a 21-second destruction of the formerly 15-0 Everett Cummings.

Also on the card were wins for Khadzhimurat Bestaev, Jeffrey Glossner and Pam Sorenson. Sorenson, a former Invicta FC featherweight champion, was making her Bellator debut and took a split decision over Roberta Paim Samad.

The night began with the pro debut of Jon McNeil. He TKO’d fellow debutante Orlando Mendoza in the third round.

Full results:

Middleweight title: Gegard Mousasi def. John Salter via TKO (ground and pound), round 3 (2:07).

Welterweight: Andrey Koreshkov def. Sabah Homasi via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26).

Bantamweight: Raufeon Stots def. Magomed Magomedov via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).

Heavyweight: Davion Franklin def. Everett Cummings via KO (punches), round 1 (0:21).

Middleweight: Khadzhimurat Bestaev def. Ty Gwerder via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Featherweight: Pam Sorenson def. Roberta Samad via split decision (28-29, 29-28 29-28).

Catchweight (142 lbs): Jeffrey Glossner def. Sebastian Ruiz via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Catchweight (195 lbs): Jon McNeil def. Orlando Mendoza via TKO (ground and pound), round 3 (3:57).