Johnny Eblen violently KO’s Fabian Edwards, makes second defense of middleweight title at Bellator 299

Bellator MMA returned to us today, September 23, 2023, for Bellator 299, going down live from the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland.

Headlining the event was a 185 lb title bout between Johnny Eblen (14-0) and the brother of current UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards, no. 1 ranked middleweight contender Fabian Edwards (12-3).

Eblen won the belt back in June of 2022 with his dominant five round dispatching of former champion Gegard Mousasi (UD), and had since defended it a single time against no. 3 ranked Anatoly Tokov (UD), who came into the bout with a record of 31-2 on a seven-fight promotional win streak.

Edwards on the other hand came in on a three-fight win streak, having most recently defeated the likes of former UFC light-heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida (KO), as well as Irish standout Charlie Ward (UD) and Gegard Mousasi (UD) himself, handing the Dutchman his first ever two-fight losing streak in the process.

Continue reading to see how this Bellator middleweight championship main event went down:

Official Result: Johnny Eblen def. Fabian Edwards via KO (punches) at :21 of round three

Edwards is able to keep his range in the opening round with his slick kicks, mostly going to the lead leg of the champion, and also controlled the center for a good portion of the round. He does the same thing in the second, though Eblen is able to find his range with good punch combinations and began to control the action toward the end of the round.

Eblen opens up round three with a furious pace, dropping Edwards with a heavy right hand. The champion follows up with even heavier punches from top position to secure the stoppage victory, becoming the first man to stop Edwards in his MMA career.

Johnny Eblen makes the second successful defense of his middleweight championship today at Bellator 299.

JOHNNY EBLEN FINISHES FABIAN EDWARDS TO DEFEND HIS BELLATOR MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE! 💥#Bellator299

pic.twitter.com/CPmbqwmAKt

— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) September 23, 2023

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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!

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