Fight Facts: Bellator 285 ‘Henderson vs. Queally’

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: 3,182
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR EVENTS: 287

Bellator MMA trekked back across the high seas in search for gold and jewels, and settled upon the Emerald Isle once more. Local fans had much to cheer for until the very last fight of the night, but likely still got their money’s worth at the 3Arena. Bellator 285 featured a stellar showing for SBG Ireland, another Round 3 knockout for a man known for those and a homegrown talent with a penchant for late comebacks.

Matchmade to Succeed: Throughout the 13-bout evening, the team SBG Ireland had nine representatives competing on its billing. Of those nine fighters, the first eight all emerged victorious, with only Peter Queally falling short in the main event.

Still a Smooth Operator: Over the course of five rounds, Benson Henderson outworked Queally to claim a one-sided decision. It marked the first time since 2015 that “Smooth” had won a five-round decision, when he took two of three scorecards over Jorge Masvidal. At that time, 10 of the other 25 competitors at this event had yet to make their pro debuts.

He Barked at the Camera: Yoel Romero put Melvin Manhoef away in the third round with elbow strikes to earn his second victory under the Bellator banner. “Soldier of God” now celebrates a knockout rate of 87% as a pro, without a single submission to his credit.

Requires a 10-Minute Warmup: Of Romero’s 13 career knockouts, a whopping nine of those have now come in the third round. This includes both of his Bellator victories and six of his seven finishes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Strange Yet Fitting: With both of his Bellator wins coming in the third frame, Romero becomes one of about two dozen competitors throughout company history to notch more than one stoppage in that specific round. Only four fighters – Ben Saunders, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Phil Davis and now Ciaran Clarke – have earned three.

See You in BK, Melvin: On the heels of his knockout defeat to Romero, Manhoef removed his gloves and said farewell to the sport of MMA. “No Mercy” turned professional in 1995, putting Jordy Jonkers away with palm strikes that December. That began a career that stretched across four decades, where he saw a remarkable 29 of his 32 victories end by knockout.

That Ref Should Charge Hourly: Leah McCourt needed all three rounds to snag a win over Dayana Silva, earning the nod on all three scorecards. In Silva’s 18-fight pro career, she has gone the distance 14 times, which includes 10 of her last 11 outings.

CC RNC: Clarke remains unbeaten as a professional after tapping Rafael Hudson with a rear-naked choke in the third stanza. While Clarke is one of four to get three stoppages in Round 3, he is the only one to do so with three rear-naked chokes.

Moore of That: Performing a comeback after nearly getting put out in Round 2, Karl Moore forced Karl Albrektsson to tap from a face crank. He is the third in Bellator history to land this specific maneuver, with the first two Justin Tenedora and Pedro Carvalho in 2017 and 2019, respectively. All three have come in the second round.

Stiffer Opposition to Come: Still very young in his career, Darragh Kelly pulled off the unanimous decision win over Kye Stevens to move to 2-0. In his professional and recorded amateur career, Kelly had never even competed beyond the second round.

Insane Number of Losses: Kane Mousah bounced back from a 2021 defeat by earning a unanimous verdict over Georgi Karakhanyan. Mousah handed Karakhanyan his 12th loss as a Bellator fighter, which places “Insane Georgi” in sole possession of the most in organizational history.

Oh My G, Kenny Killed Him: By way of a guillotine choke, Kenny Mokhonoana put Alex Bodnar to sleep in the opening period. The 25-year-old from Ireland has amassed a 4-0 record as a pro, with all four of his wins coming by submission within two rounds.

Hello Submission of the Year List: On the card opener, Luca Poclit landed a unique submission on Dante Schiro. Putting Schiro to sleep with a modified arm-triangle choke he later called the “Lucanator,” he is the first to perform this kind of maneuver in Bellator history.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into Bellator 285, Albrektsson had never been submitted (16 fights), Jordan Barton had never been knocked out (10 fights) and Schiro had never been finished (12 fights).