Daniel James stops no. 5 ranked Tyrell Fortune, improves streak to four straight at Bellator 288

Bellator MMA returned to us tonight, November 18, 2022, for Bellator 288, going down live from the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois.

Headlining the event was a championship encounter between Bellator light-heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov (15-2, 1 NC) and no. 1 ranked Corey Anderson (16-5, 1 NC), a rematch from their first affair that happened earlier this year in April.

Co-headlining the card was also a title bout, this one coming at 155 lbs between Bellator lightweight champion Patricky Freire (24-10) and no. 1 ranked Usman Nurmagomedov (15-0).

Our second fight on the main card tonight came in the heavyweight division between a pair of knockout artists in Tyrell Fortune (12-2, 8 knockouts) and Daniel James (13-6-1, 9 knockouts).

Fortune came into the bout having won his last fight, going 4-1 over his last five, only losing a close split decision; while James came in on a three-fight win streak, securing all three victories via knockout.

Continue reading to see how this epic heavyweight affair went down:

Official Result: Daniel James def. Tyrell Fortune via TKO (punches & elbows) at :27 of round two 

Fortune opens up the bout with a leg kick that James catches and momentarily sits him down with. Fortune is right back up, but he’s carrying the much bigger James’ weight along the fence.

James is caught with an illegal knee in the clinch and the action is stopped; once it’s resumed, Fortune shoots in on a single leg, transitioning to a double leg and securing the takedown 90 seconds in. James tries to get up, but gives up his back in the process and Fortune sinks in a rear naked choke.

It’s deep under the chin, but he’s unable to secure the finish and James spins into him, reigning down heavy ground-and-pound for the final 30 seconds of round one.

Fortune opens up in the second with an overhand right but misses and gets caught with a nasty right uppercut that floors him on the spot. James would follow up with some heavy punches and elbows to the grounded Fortune and the referee was forced to stop the bout.

Daniel James returned to the Bellator cage tonight for the first time since his professional debut back in 2014, where he was also victorious via TKO in round two. He improves to 14-6-1 tonight, improving his win streak, and knockout streak to four straight.

DANIEL JAMES STOPS TYRELL FORTUNE IN HIS HOMETOWN! #Bellator288 ⚡️

Illegal bows?? Or nah?? pic.twitter.com/DmyYdTHtNg

— betr ⚡️Combat (@betrcombat) November 19, 2022

If you enjoyed this piece, feel free to share it on social media!

Brady Ordway

I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!

See Full Bio