Johnny Eblen dominantly upsets Gegard Mousasi, wins title at Bellator 282
Bellator Fighting Championships returned to us tonight, June 24, 2022, for Bellator 282, going down live from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Headlining the event was a title bout between one of the greatest to ever do it, Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi, who faced no. 1 ranked Johnny Eblen tonight in the main event of the evening.
Continue reading to see how this middleweight championship bout went down:
Official Result: Johnny Eblen def. Gegard Mousasi via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
Eblen opens up the bout with some oblique kicks, followed by some round kicks to the leg of Mousasi. This opens up his heavy handed boxing combinations, an overhand right of which drops Mousasi and forces a panic shot out of him.
Eblen stuffs it and ends up taking Mousasi down. Not a great start for the champion.
The second round shows more of the same, as Eblen dominates the round with his wrestling. Mousasi was able to end each the first and second rounds on the feet, but it wasn’t enough to secure either round. He isn’t even exactly winning the stand up exhchanges.
Mousasi has a better third round, though it’s questionable whether you’d score it for him, as Eblen’s striking is still looking good. The champion remains on his feet for the entirety of the middle stretch, but is put on his back again in the fourth, and again in the fifth. He got absolutely mauled tonight.
Johnny Eblen looked absolutely incredible tonight, and no discredit to him, but Mousasi just didn’t seem awake the entire time. This has been a pattern in his career, sometimes he doesn’t quite show up.
In fact, Mousasi held wins over three of the last four men to defeat him, the only one he couldn’t avenge was to Rafael Lovato Jr, who was forced into retirement following their fight.
Does this set up an immediate rematch, or is Anatoly Tokov next?
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