Sara Collins Dominates Leah McCourt in Bellator London Main Event

Leah McCourt was excited at the idea of having a spotlight. McCourt thought that if she got a win over Sara Collins, she would be next in line for a fight with Cris Cyborg and a shot at the featherweight crown. But the MMAfighting latest news shows that McCourt’s opportunity to be at the top may be over.

Collins dropped McCourt with an over-hand right just a little over a minute into the fight Saturday in London. While Collins initially attempted to finish the fight with ground-and-pound, she quickly adapted her strategy. Collins switched to back control.

Once Collins got on McCourt’s back, she made the Irish fighter look foolish. Collins sunk in a rear-naked choke, and McCourt didn’t defend properly. Instead of fighting Collins’ hands, McCourt attempted to grab onto Collins’ forearms.

McCourt was forced to tap out midway in the first round. Collins improved to 3-0 in Bellator and is 6-0 in her career. Collins now has three career wins by submission.

It will be interesting to see which way Bellator decides to go with the featherweight women’s division. Cyborg is on the record saying that she only wants to have fights that add to her legacy. I’m not sure Collins would reach that threshold.

Powell Picks Up Win at Home

Simeon Powell may have been running out of steam during his fight against Rafael Xavier. But the London-based fighter kept firing strikes deep into the third round Saturday night against Rafael Xavier. Powell, whose previous six fights came under the PFL banner, was fighting on the Bellator brand for the first time.

Xavier is a dangerous grappling threat and a fighter with whom Powell had to be careful. During the end of the first round, Powell took a big risk by winning a wild hook.

The best MMA news site shows that Xavier didn’t flinch and fired a straight shot that caught Powell on the chin. Powell went stumbling back to the canvas, landing butt first as the horn buzzed, ending the opening round. Following the knockdown, Powell had to pick up the pace to keep the judges interested.

Powell was able to land enough strikes to overcome that early nickname. He was able to pick up a split-decision victory. Powell was coming off his first professional loss during the PFL European championships. This result was a good opportunity to get his career back on track.

Trainer Keeps Doing What He’s Best At

Luke Trainer has ambitions beyond what he does in the cage. Anyone looking at MMA latest updates said that Trainer also has an interest in trying to help foster kids. But Trainer proved against Laurynas Urbonavicius that he has plenty left to accomplish in combat sports before he heads off to focus his effort on charitable efforts.

Trainer extended his record to 6-1 in Bellator by submitting Urbonavicius during the first round. Urbonavicius was returning to the cage after nearly a three-year absence. He looked like a rusty fighter.

Trainer scored a knockdown by being smart coming out of the clinch. He fired off an elbow while breaking away from the cage, which sent Urbonavicius scrambling to the canvas. Trainer immediately hopped on top position and eventually secured a rear-naked choke with 45 seconds left in the first round.

Diakiese Likes His New Workplace

Some thought that Marc Diakiese may stick with the UFC when his contract was up. Diakiese won his last fight but had largely been up and down while fighting in the promotion. Following Diakiese signing with the PFL, there wasn’t a clear plan for how the veteran striker would be used. During Diakiese’s Bellator debut against Tim Wilde, he did enough to pick up a victory.

He leaned on his striking and created good exchanges where he could land the cleaner strikes. Wilde didn’t back down, however. He made life difficult for Diakiese.

Judges ruled that Wilde could take one round from Diakiese, but the former UFC fighter could edge out a 29-28 decision on all three scorecards.

Colgan Wins Battle of Unbeaten Fighters

Archie Colgan did his job well. He came into the fight looking to defend his 10-0 record. While things weren’t always pretty for Colgan against Manoel Sousa, he had enough skills to keep Sousa at bay. What Sousa had a hard time dealing with was Colgan’s wrestling. 

When Colgan needed to create momentum, he battled to secure takedowns. He wrapped up four of them to build a lead over his opponent, and he ended up with three takedowns.

While Sousa was competitive on his feet, he couldn’t keep up with Colgan’s wrestling. Sousa lost for the first time in his MMA career, falling to 11-1.

Shipman Mixes Martial Arts Effectively

Being held in a clinch can allow some fighters to think and clear their head. But it can also be a dangerous spot for fighters who are out of answers for their opponents. Eslam Abdul Baset Syaha ran into this issue with Mike Shipman.

When Shipman held Syaha against the cage, he wasn’t looking just for control. Instead, Shipman was searching for an opening to land strikes. Early in the fight, Shipman landed tough knees while Syaha was against the cage.

But in the second round, Shipman fired out a knee while the two men were in space, swiftly concluding the contest. Shipman caught Syaha with a strong knee while his opponent had dropped to a knee to shoot for a takedown.

Shipman followed up with a stiff ground-and-pound to earn the victory.

Here’s a look at the rest of the fights not mentioned above:

• Catchweight (178.5 pounds), Joseph Luciano win by submission (anaconda choke) over Steven Hill, Round 2 1:22
• Catchweight (140 pounds), Ciaran Clarke win by decision over Tuomas Grönvall, 30-26 (x2), 30-27
• Lightweight, Darragh Kelly win by decision over Dmytrii Hrytsenko, 30-26 (x3)

Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com.

By Dean McHugh.