Yoel Romero picks up another 3rd round finish, KO’s Melvin Manhoef at Bellator 285
Bellator MMA returns to us today, September 23, 2022, for Bellator 285, going down live from the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland.
Headlining the event is former WEC & UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson (29-11), who faced off with Peter Queally (13-6-1) in the five round main event of the evening.
Co-headlining was a light-heavyweight affair between a pair of prolific knockout artists in Olympic silver medalist (freestyle wrestling) Yoel Romero (14-6, 12 knockouts) and former professional kickboxing champion Melvin Manhoef (32-15-1-2, 29 knockouts).
Click here for Bellator 285 results
Continue reading to see how our co-main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: Yoel Romero def. Melvin Manhoef via KO (elbows) at 3:34 of round three
Romero lands a heavy body kick about 15 seconds into the bout as he takes the center of the octagon. He beautifully feints on a takedown attempt, before sweeping Manhoef’s legs out from under him with a thunderous leg kick.
After securing a dominant position, Romero controls the entirety of the first with his top pressure, and even comes close to securing a keylock submission, which was surprising.
Neither of these men, across 70 MMA fights, have ever submitted anyone before.
Round two was a much different story however, as it plays out on the feet the entire five minutes.
Manhoef is able to get some nice strikes off, including a couple leg kicks, as well as a splitting right cross, but it isn’t enough. That’s pretty much all he was able to get off through the middle stretch.
Romero is feinting his takedown shots here and there, enough to make Manhoef timid in the striking department.
Romero gets Manhoef back down to the mat in the third and final round, and as he’s in his half guard, Romero is softening Manhoef up with some short punches to the body, then going up to the head.
After doing this for two or so minutes, Romero postures up to get some really heavy punches and elbows off, and he finishes the fight with a pair of back-to-back elbows that landed flush on Manhoef’s face, KO’ing him on the spot.
Yoel Romero is now on his first win streak since 2016, having won his last two-straight inside the Bellator cage; and, he secures yet another third-round knockout victory today in Dublin.
That makes eight of his last ten wins via third round KO, just remarkable.
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