Usman Nurmagomedov defeats former champion Brent Primus, defends lightweight title at Bellator 300

Bellator MMA returned to us tonight, October 7, 2023, for Bellator 300, going down live from the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California.

We had three championship affairs going down tonight at Bellator 300, the main event of which came between lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov (18-0) and no. 4 ranked former lightweight champion Brent Primus (12-4).

Nurmagomedov won the title from Patricky Freire back in November of last year prior to defeating former WEC & UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, who he submitted earlier this year in under three minutes to make the first defense of his newly claimed title.

Primus on the other hand, who boasts wins over former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler and Benson Henderson himself, came in off a victory over Mansour Barnaoui.

Continue reading to see how this lightweight championship bout went down:

Official Result: Usman Nurmagomedov def. Brent Primus via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)

Nurmagomedov opens up with his kicking attack early, focusing on the lead leg of Primus. He mixes in his front snaps kicks well, and really begins to batter the lead leg of the former champion. Nurmagomedov secures a takedown in the latter half of the opening round, holding position until the bell sounded.

Nurmagomedov diversifies his attack in the second, adding his side kick to the body as well as some punches upstairs. Primus is firing back but is having a difficult time finding his range.

Nurmagomedov continues picking Primus apart through round three, and is doing the same in round four before securing a takedown about two minutes in, remaining on top for the final three minutes of the round.

By the time round four ends the champion has out-struck the former champion by over 5-to-1.

Nurmagomedov handily out-classes Primus through the final five minutes of the contest as well, getting the clean sweep on the judges cards and advancing to the finals of the Bellator lightweight gran prix.

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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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