Yaroslav Amosov dominates Logan Storley in rematch to defend welterweight title at Bellator 291
Bellator MMA returned to us today, February 25, 2023, for Bellator 291, headlined by a welterweight championship rematch between undisputed champion Yaroslav Amosov (26-0) and interim champion Logan Storley (14-1).
Our undefeated champion had been out of action for nearly two years, as he was defending his home country of Ukraine from the Russian invasion, while Storley had gone 3-0 since the first time they fought.
Going into their first fight back in November of 2020, both men were undefeated, and one of their 0’s had to go.
Following a back-and-forth three round encounter, Amosov was narrowly awarded the split decision victory.
Amosov then defeated multi-time Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima to win the title in June of 2021, that being the last time we’d seen him fight until tonight.
Then we had Storley’s most recent bout, where he defeated 20-1 Michael Page via split decision to claim the interim Bellator welterweight championship in May of 2022.
Their first fight could’ve gone either way, it was so, so close. But how did their rematch go?
Continue reading to see how our epic Bellator welterweight championship main event went down:
Official Result: Yaroslav Amosov def. Logan Storley via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
It’s evident from the early goings of this contest that Amosov hasn’t missed a beat in his absence, as he gets right to work lighting Storley up on the feet. His boxing is looking incredible, and he’s adding those beautiful round kicks that he’s known for to it.
Amosov is much better than he used to be, and that’s really saying something considering he won all 26 of his fights prior. Storley is trying to bring the fight to him but is unable to get any real offense going as Amosov continues to baffle him with his striking and movement, more than doubling up on strikes through the first ten minutes.
Amosov is moving very well and at this point, midway through round three, he’s landed a lot of body kicks and leg kicks that have forced Storley to switch stances.
Amosov lands a piercing boxing combination with 1:40 left on the clock in the middle stretch and immediately double legs Storley down to the mat as he backs him up to the fence.
Storley has missed every takedown attempt as Amosov is beginning to absolutely batter him and handily out-wrestle him himself. Amosov hurts Storley with a body kick in the fourth and proceeds to double leg him back down to the mat once again.
Amosov fought like a man possessed tonight, just unstoppable.
Storley is an absolute dog though, he pressed the action until the final bell but got nowhere doing so.
Once minute 25 was completed, Amosov handily shrugged off all 12 of Storley’s takedown attempts, secured three himself, and landed over 250 significant strikes to Storley’s rough count of 90.
Coming into this fight many of us were wondering, will Yaroslav Amosov return to form tonight, will he have ring rust? The answer is no, he’s levels above what he was at before, which is really saying something considering he’d never lost a single time through 26 fights.
If you enjoyed this piece, feel free to share it on social media!
