Bellator visited Dublin’s 3Arena with a pair of cards on Friday, and former UFC lightweight champion Ben Henderson came out on top in the end of Bellator 227.
Henderson scored a dominant win over Myles Jury, backing the debutant up and landing with a dynamic array of techniques. Henderson came out strong and landed a big overhand right and continued to put added mustard on his shots, forcing Jury on the back foot for the majority of the 15 minutes. The former UFC champion mixed up his shots well to the body, legs and head of his fellow former UFC fighter throughout the contest.
The second to last bout on the card had Straight Blast Gym’s Kiefer Crosbie taking on promotional newcomer Hugo Pereira in a 165-pound catchweight bout. With UFC superstar Conor McGregor cheering and shouting instructions cageside, Crosbie returned to the winning column via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).
Crosbie was so frustrated with short-notice replacement that he began to shout at him and goad him into striking exchanges in round three of their clash. Crosbie had some success landing his signature elbows late in the second round, but the Portuguese fighter remained in the fray.
Although the Irishman unloaded with some of his heavier shots in the third, Pereira managed to take his back before the contest ended, with all judges scoring the fight for the Irishman, who bounced back from the first blemish of his professional career in July, when he was disqualified for landing an illegal knee on Mike Jackson at Bellator 224.
One blow to SBG team on Friday came by the hands of Norbert Novenyl, who imposed a dominant decision win over Will Fleury.
Fleury seemed to have control in the first round before the undefeated prospect rocked him with three powerful overhands before the bell sounded to end the round. Fleury used his grappling to try and stop the Englishman’s striking attacks, but Novenyi continued to land his punishing right hand for the remainder of the contest.
Novenyl won an unanimous decision in the end, with two of the three judges giving him a 10-8 round (30-26, 30-26, 30-27), and improved to 3-0 under the Bellator banner.
Leah McCourt made short work of Kerry Hughes in a featherweight contest. The SBG Charlestown fighter showcased her stellar grappling with a well-timed takedown before she methodically worked her way to her opponent’s back, securing a rear-naked choke to end the contest in the first round.
Opening the main Bellator 227 portion of the show, South African bantamweight Frans Mlambo took on Dominique Wooding, and the bout lived up to the hype it generated ahead of the event. Despite being dropped early on by a clean Mlambo punch, Wooding rallied back into the contest but still ended up on the end of an unanimous decision loss to the SBG fighter.
Click here for full Bellator 227 and Bellator Dublin results.