Corey Anderson (left) squares off against Ryan Bader (right) following Anderson's Bellator 257 victory. Anderson and Bader will fight each other in the semifinals of the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix.
Corey Anderson TKO’s Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov In Round Three At Bellator 257, Faces Bader Next
We’ve been given a great night of fights tonight at Bellator 257, where we witnessed two light-heavyweight gran prix bouts go down.
The first of those gran prix bouts came between Corey Anderson and Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov in the co-main event, while the second comes between Bellator light-heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov and Phil Davis, a main event title fight rematch of their 2018 showdown.
Their first encounter showed Nemkov defeat Davis via split decision after three rounds. Now they get five rounds to see who the better man really is.
Corey Anderson, like Phil Davis, is a former top five contender in the UFC at 205 lbs, and is coming off a second round TKO victory over Melvin Manhoef in his promotional debut.
Yagshimuradov on the other hand is unknown to the public, but comes in on an eight-fight win streak as the ACA light-heavyweight champion.
Continue reading to see how this incredible light-heavyweight gran prix bout went down:
Official Result: Corey Anderson def. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov via TKO (elbows) at 2:15 of round three
Round 1
Anderson takes the center once the fight starts and gets his jab going immediately.
Yagshimuradov quickly shows off his quick hands and power, and also lands some pretty thunderous leg kicks.
Anderson’s first takedown attempt is denied, but he does get some good knees going to Yagshimuradov’s body along the fence. Yagshimuradov threw and partially landed a spinning wheel kick at the end of the round and had Anderson momentarily stunned from it.
Round 2
Yagshimuradov lands another hard leg kick to start round two, before being pushed back into the cage by the pursuing Anderson. His takedown defense holds up once again, before Anderson secures a trip off the single leg.
Anderson quickly secures mount and reigns down some vicious elbows from the top for the last minute of the round.
Round 3
Anderson secures the takedown just 30 seconds into round three, as he’s been able to wear Yagshimuradov out at this point, and quickly secures mount once again. It didn’t take long before the fight was stopped due to Anderson’s vicious ground-and-pound.
