Bellator 158 results: Douglas Lima earns unanimous decision win over Paul Daley

Before Bellator MMA's debut in the UK, things didn't go according to plan. Paul Daley's long-planned rematch with Josh Koscheck was scrapped, scheduled headliner Kimbo Slice suddenly passed away and other injuries wrecked the card. Yet, by fight night at the O2 Arena in London, England, all of the favorites ended up winning.

In the main event, former Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima returned to action a year after losing his title to Andrey Koreshkov where he faced striking ace Paul Daley. The Brit in 'Semtex' didn't live up to his name, at least initially, as Lima dropped him, sending him to the canvas at the very beginning of the first round. Daley would compose himself, however, and get to his feet, but would spend much of the first frame fighting off incessant takedown attempts or working incompletely at distance.

Halfway through the second round, Daley found his footing, at least for a moment. The striker appeared to have found his distance despite Lima's That is until an uppercut left hook combo from Lima visibly rocked Daley. The Brit was able to hang on, but by the close of the second, a left hook and right combo sent Daley to the canvas with Lima on top in knee on belly trying to finish the British fighter off.

By the third, Daley was at Lima's mercy, although the Brazilian didn't exactly pore on the offense. He kicked things off by taking Daley to the ground from a single leg attempt. Lima was never able to pass guard, yet Daley couldn't get up or make much of the one kimura he attempted. In the end, Lima finished the round on top of Daley, physically and metaphorically.

All three judges awarded Lima the fight with scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 30-27. Lima climbs to 27-6 with the unanimous decision victory while Daley drops to 38-14-2.

Matt Mitrione made his second appearance in the Bellator cage in the co-main event, having just competed roughly three weeks earlier at Bellator 157. He faced another UFC veteran in Oli Thompson and the two didn't waste much time in getting to work. Both landed decent shots before trading bombs against the fence, creating a clinch. After a brief restart, Mitrione used a clinch to land a series of crushing knees that visibly hurt Thompson, but the former rugby player nevertheless was able to score an additional set of punches before another clinch slowed the action for the pair.

With roughly two minutes left in the first, Mitrione landed a few more shots in the clinch, but then backed up where Thompson pushed forward landing his own heavy punches at distance. As he closed further, Mitrione used an underhook to fling Thompson into the fence, where he went right back to work from the clinch. Thompson would attempt a knee tap at the end of the frame, but got nowhere with it.

In the second frame, Thompson started off with the occasional heavy right hand that scored followed by disengagement to reset. Mitrione would respond in kind after the first minute, circling outside of Thompson's power hand and landing outside leg kicks. With two minutes left, Mitrone backed Thompson to the fence and began to unload with dirty boxes and knees to the midsection. As the round ticked down to its final minute, Mitrione backed up slightly off the clinch and measured a perfect right hand that set up the beginning of the end. Thompson essentially did nothing to block the subsequent shots as he stumbled, forcing him to crumble face first to the mat. The end was officially called at 4:21, with Mitrione winning via knockout.

UFC veteran Francis Carmont returned to the Bellator cage against newcomer Lukasz Klinger and much like he's done over the course of his career, Carmont kicked things off by securing a takedown within the first minute. From there it didn't take long for Carmont to use his superior grappling to put Klinger away. Klinger attempted a butterfly sweep, but Carmont ended up in side control as he stuffed the attempt. As Klinger tried to roll to his base, Carmont locked up a tight d'arce choke and rolled Klinger to his back. The Georges St-Pierre training partner then hopped into modified mount with the choke secured, forcing the tap at 3:54 of the very first frame.

Rising contender Michael 'Venom' Page got to work against welterweight fixture Cyborg Santos, although it didn't necessarily come all the easy. MVP kicked things off by doing his traditional hands-down, in and out movement, giving Cyborg hesitancy issues and even scoring a trip takedown in the first minute. MVP would later attempt a jumping switch knee, which enabled Cyborg to place him against the fence and ultimately on his back away from the fence. Cyborg would move to side control, but couldn't do much beyond that.

By the second round, MVP got back to his game, stalking in side stance and exploding into range with strikes. While Page was peppering Cyborg with jabs and crosses, things really got going with a minute and 30 seconds left in the round as the Brit scored a crushing liver kick that visibly hurt his opponent. Santos kept circling and hung up, but as he lunged forward with strikes, Page timed a brilliant jump knee Santos never saw coming, sending him to the mat covering his face. Referee 'Big' John McCarthy was left with no choice to stop the bout, which came at 4:31 of the second frame, giving Page the knockout victory.

In the opening bout of the main card, prospect James Gallagher stalked Mike Cutting on the feet long enough to secure a takedown and ride out some form of top control to secure a unanimous decision. Cutting had moments in the first round where was intermittently able to reverse position, but Gallagher kept Cutting's offense short. By the third round, he was mixing in top rides with heavy ground and pound. The judges ultimately awarded Gallagher the bout 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, giving him a unanimous decision win.