Fight Facts: Bellator 278 & 279

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR FIGHTS: 3,106
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR EVENTS: 281

Bellator MMA island-hopped its way to Honolulu for a doubleheader that put three belts up for grabs and several locals in prime positions to pick up key wins. These two fights card had a little bit of everything, including an obvious flop, a couple weird stoppages and several triumphant performances. Bellators 278 and 279 featured one of the latest finishes in company history, a crushing defeat for a hometown star and a champion that barely missed a beat in her latest title defense.

Bellator 278

Years in the Making: In Round 4, Liz Carmouche staged a comeback to stop Juliana Velasquez with strikes. “Girl-Rilla” became the third fighter in Bellator women’s flyweight history to hold the division’s belt.

In the Pantheon of Bad Stoppages: While the stoppage proved to be extremely questionable, Carmouche wrested the flyweight strap from Velasquez due to elbows at 4:47 of the fourth frame. As a result, the finish clocked in as the seventh-latest in Bellator history, and the third-latest among all female Bellator fighters.

A Fourth Gear Since Joining Bellator: Carmouche recorded her third stoppage win in four appearances at Bellator’s 125-pound weight class. She is now tied with Emily Ducote and Velasquez with the fourth-highest finish total in the division’s history. They all trail Sumiko Inaba (four), Denise Kielholtz (five) and ex-champ Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (seven).

Member of the Four Up, Four Down Club: In the past, Carmouche fell victim to a triangle choke from Marloes Coenen under the Strikeforce banner in Round 4. Carmouche is one of a small number of fighters throughout major MMA history, a list that includes Chan Sung Jung, to both win and lose fights in the fourth round.

That’s the Barzola We Know: Enrique Barzola made his Bellator debut in January by putting Darrion Caldwell away with punches and elbows. “El Fuerte” returned at this event to win a decision over Nikita Mikhailov, and returned to his full-length fight ways. The man out of Peru has gone the distance in 11 of his last 12 fights.

The Eight-Man Bracket Was Set: “The Italian Gangster” Danny Sabatello styled on then-unbeaten Jornel Lugo to pick up a decision win. Both Sabatello and Barzola prevailed in their wild card fights to reach the bantamweight grand prix. Sabatello will face Leandro Higo, and Barzola will clash with Magomed Magomedov on June 24 to complete the quarterfinals.

Manny, Luis, Dragon, Whatever: By a narrow split decision, Luis Muro edged Nate Andrews to spring the upset. “Manny” has now earned exactly 69% of his career wins by decision.

Boo That Man: With an inside thigh kick that did not strike the cup upon replay, Weber Almeida halted Fabricio Franco despite Franco’s protests of a foul. In victory, all six of wins for “The Silverback” have come by knockout within two rounds, while his lone defeat ended by decision.

Dante’s Inferno: Bouncing back from a split decision loss to upcoming title challenger Logan Storley, Dante Schiro wrecked Scotty Hao in the third round with punches. The Wisconsin native posts a high finish rate of 89% after stopping Hao.

Do You Want To Go To War, Balakay? Scoring the huge comeback, +600 underdog Blake Perry tapped out -900 favorite Makoa Cooper with an anaconda choke. His massive upset in his MMA debut closed as the highest on the betting lines since +850 Ethan Hughes ran roughshod over Mahmoud Sebie Fawzy (-1300) in November.

Bellator 279

Rare to Survive That Long: Cristiane Justino has engaged in 18 five-round fights throughout her storied career, with Strikeforce, Invicta Fighting Championships, the Ultimate Fighting Championship and now Bellator. By going the distance with her, Arlene Blencowe is just the second woman to reach the 25-minute mark with “Cris Cyborg,” with Holly Holm the first.

Five for Five, Keep ‘Em Coming: Amassing five wins in five appearances under the Bellator lights, “Cris Cyborg” only has six women ahead of her to become the winningest female fighter in company history. The record remains with Macfarlane, who has seen her hand raised 10 times on the roster.

Erecting a Wall of Gold: The five wins for Justino have all come in title fights, tying her with Macfarlane for the most championship victories of any woman to set foot in the Bellator cage. She passes former foe and divisional queen Budd, who celebrated four title wins during her time with Bellator.

Cyborg and Pitbull, Featherweight Elites: “Cris Cyborg” won the belt in her Bellator debut and has successfully defended it four times in a row. This title reign ties flyweight Macfarlane and welterweight Ben Askren for the second-lengthiest of all Bellator champs. The five straight defenses on the second 145-pound championship run for Patricio Freire stands above the rest.

Bridesmaids Need Love Too: Blencowe has still yet to win in a Bellator title fight, losing all three of her attempts to claim gold. The Aussie is now the first fighter to amass three championship defeats without every winning a strap.

Angry Fists Grow Angrier With Each Setback: The loss for “Angerfist” was her fifth on the roster, and she joins Sinead Kavanagh with the most defeats of any female Bellator competitor.

A Special Kind of Sequence: Early into the third round, Raufeon Stots clubbed Juan Archuleta with a head kick and follow-up elbows. He is the first fighter in Bellator history to achieve this kind of stoppage, chaining those specific strikes together to knock someone out.

Interim Greatness: Stots claimed the interim strap put up for grabs for this tournament, with champion Sergio Pettis out due to injury. Stots will defend that belt for every fight in the tournament, and it will change hands should he lose. He is the fifth interim champ in Bellator history, joining Emanuel Newton, Joe Warren, Will Brooks and Valentin Moldavsky.

And After That Glorious Walkout: The largest perceived upset of the weekend took place when Justine Kish at +325 topped Macfarlane (-400) on the scorecards. Kish has not won a fight inside the distance since her second pro fight in 2013.

Mixed Things Up: After five hard-fought rounds, Patrick Mix overcame Kyoji Horiguchi to advance to the semifinals of the bantamweight tourney. It marked the first time as a Bellator fighter he needed to involve the judges in the final call, with his previous four wins on the roster by tapout.

Out Point-Fought: For just the second time in his career, Horiguchi lost by decision. This first occurred in January 2012 against Masakatsu Ueda, and at that time, 19 of the other 25 fighters competing at Bellator 279 had yet to make their pro debuts.

Good Work, Kid: With the fight shifting to the main card, Yancy Medeiros won in front of his home crowd to prevail for the first time since 2017. “The Kid” holds an evenly distributed method of victory, with exactly half of his wins by strikes, one-fourth due to submission and the remaining tally by decision.

Poor Programming: With prelims only scheduled for two hours on the promotion’s YouTube channel, Bellator staged postlims for the first time since before the pandemic hit. Three fights took place following the main event, an occurrence not needed since Bellator 240 in February 2020.

Sumiko Smash: Leveling Whittany Pyles with punches 82 seconds into their bout, Inaba elevated her pro record to 4-0. The Hawaiian has finished all four of her opponents to date.

New Stat, Same Great Taste: The four finishes for Inaba clock in as the third-most in the women’s flyweight division with Bellator. As mentioned above, Kielholtz (five) and Macfarlane (seven) are the lone two ahead of her on the list.

Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself: Just four fights into her professional MMA career, Inaba already holds the Bellator women’s flyweight record for the most knockouts. Her three stoppages due to strikes break a tie held by Kielholtz, Velasquez, Kate Jackson, Carmouche and Valerie Loureda.

Putting Gracie to Shame: Goiti Yamauchi moved up to welterweight and submitted Levan Chokheli with an armbar in the first round. By landing his ninth submission as a Bellator fighter, he extends his record for the most in company history. A.J. McKee and Neiman Gracie are the next closes competitors, with seven apiece.

Finishes at Any Division: Across his storied career, Yamauchi has put away 11 opponents inside the distance. He is tied with Michael Page with the fourth-most finishes in organizational history. The three above him all have notched 13: McKee, Michael Chandler and Freire.

More Like Yamaouchie: The fighter from Japan lifted his finish rate to 85% by stopping Chokheli in the first round. He has now recorded 20 of his 27 wins in the first round.

Day-O: In her third attempt, Dayana Silva finally won in the Bellator cage, taking a decision over Janay Harding. The Brazilian fighter has seen 80% of her wins come on the scorecards throughout a career that kicked off in 2009.

Chip Off the Old Gibson: After three dominant rounds, Lance Gibson Jr. captured a decision against Nainoa Dung. The Canadian has still yet to lose as a professional, with six pro wins and four in the Bellator cage.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into Bellators 278 and 279, two fighters had never been defeated (Velasquez, Lugo), three competitors had never been knocked out (Franco, Hao and Archuleta), one athlete had never been submitted (Chokheli) and two had never lost on the scorecards (Mikhailov, Christian Edwards).