Fight Facts: Bellator 282 ‘Mousasi vs. Eblen’

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.

* * *

TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR FIGHTS: 3,146
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR EVENTS: 284

Bellator MMA headed home to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut to recharge its batteries and start its “one event per month” strategy. With a belt and two bantamweight grand prix matches on the line, the stakes were high but the results were varied. Bellator 282 featured the rise of a nickname-changing middleweight champ, a brash contender that spoke bigger than he could deliver in the cage and a young “Skywalker” that is strong with the Force.

Diamond Hands to Cheat Codes: Atop Bellator 282, unbeaten Johnny Eblen improved his spotless record to 12-0 by manhandling middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi. The new champ, Eblen joined the promotion in 2019 and rattled off eight straight wins to get to this point – with six of those coming at the hands of the judges.

Unmotivated Mousasi: Through his storied career, Mousasi has only needed go to beyond the fourth round in MMA five times, including his five-rounder with Eblen. Mousasi has lost four of those five, with the lone victory coming over Douglas Lima in 2020.

More Bark Than Bite: Moving on to the semifinals where he will face interim bantamweight titleholder Raufeon Stots, the boisterous Danny Sabatello took a five-round decision over Leandro Higo. “The Italian Gangster” started his career by recording seven finishes across his eight wins, and since then, he has won five straight decisions.

Magomedov Things: At 1:27 of Round 4, Magomed Magomedov snatched up a guillotine choke to submit Enrique Barzola. His stoppage clocked in as the third latest in Bellator non-title fight history.

Championship Rounds Are His Specialty: Throughout all the fourth-round finishes in Bellator history, Magomedov is only the second to achieve this feat as a bantamweight. The first occurred at the end of 2021, when Sergio Pettis belted Kyoji Horiguchi with a spinning back fist.

25 Minutes Ahead vs. Mix: For his last 10 fights, Magomedov has established a pattern, starting with his decision win over Petr Yan in 2016. Following a decision – win or lose – for Magomedov, he will win his next fight by submission, and then go the distance in the subsequent match.

No Need for Luck of the Irish: For the 11th time in 11 Bellator wins, “Irish” Brennan Ward prevailed by stoppage. Ward knocked Kassius Kayne out in Round 2 to go on his first win streak since 2015.

A 2022 Berserker: While sporting a 11-6 record as a Bellator competitor, all 11 of Ward’s wins have come within two rounds. As a result, Ward does indeed celebrate the highest finish rate (100%) of any Bellator fighter with more than 10 victories.

Warding Off Judges: The finish for Ward lifted his overall rate of victory inside the distance to a stellar 94%, although he has never needed the judges in defeat. Ward has not heard the final bell in 19 straight fights dating back to 2012.

Force Crank: Snagging an unorthodox neck crank on Johnny Soto, Lucas Brennan elevated himself to a perfect 7-0 as a pro. All seven fights have come in the Bellator cage since his 2019 debut, and “Skywalker” has finished six. With five coming by way of tapout, only 11 competitors in the history of the organization have notched more submissions.

The Valley: Alexandr Shabliy pummeled Brent Primus to earn his first stoppage under the Bellator banner. The Russian celebrates an 82% finish rate as a pro, with exactly half of his wins coming due to strikes.

Alpha Move: In September 2020, Cat Zingano came to the Bellator promotion and picked up a win over Gabrielle Holloway. A submission of Olivia Parker in 2021 and the decision victory at Bellator 282 against Pam Sorenson put her on a three-fight win streak. “Alpha Cat” is now one of only nine women in Bellator women’s featherweight history to pull off three wins.

A Secret Contender: Dating back just over a decade, Anatoly Tokov has competed 25 times. He has lost just once in that stretch, to Ramazan Emeev in 2016. Since then, including his knockout of Muhammad Abdullah, Tokov has rattled off seven straight wins with Bellator, with five finishes to his credit.

Sleek and Strong: Sabah Homasi faceplanted Maycon Mendonca in under a minute to put an end to their rivalry. “The Sleek Sheik” has earned 82% of his career wins by stoppage, with eight coming in the very first round.

The Illegal Upkick Did Not Help: Falling short by decision to Ilara Joanne, Alejandra Lara suffered her fifth defeat in the Bellator cage. The loss for “Azul” ties her with Arlene Blencowe and Sinead Kavanagh for the most in Bellator women’s divisional history.

He Fought the Law: In his Bellator debut as a massive +550 underdog, James Gonzalez (#218955) upset Cody Law in a unanimous verdict in his favor. Including each of his last five outings, a total of 10 of the 14 career fights for “The Alley Cat” have ended up in the hands of the judges.

Wearing His Canadian Passport with Pride: With a knee and follow-up punches, Aaron Jeffery put Fabio Aguiar away in the second round in the former’s first walk to the Bellator cage. An even 75% of the mulleted Canadian’s career victories have come by stoppage, and several of his knockouts have come with knee strikes.

Was That Stoppage Garbage? It took Mandel Nallo 67 seconds to put Bryce Logan away with one punch. The man nicknamed “Rat Garbage” has still yet to fight beyond 1:16 of Round 3 as a professional, with seven of his nine triumphs concluding in the opening round.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into Bellator 282, Barzola (25 fights) and Primus (13 fights) had never been finished, Soto had never been submitted (six fights) and Abdullah had never been knocked out (16 fights).