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Bellator returned to London on Saturday night, and locals went perfect up until the main event at the OVO Wembley.

With a middleweight title bout between Johnny Eblen and Fabian Edwards cancelled just days before the show, Leah McCourt vs. Sara Collins was elevated to the main event slot. The winner potentially will earn a shot against Bellator featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, who faces PFL queen Larissa Pacheco in a superfight next month in Saudi Arabia, and Collins made the most of the opportunity.

Collins nearly knocked McCourt out cold with a brutal right hand early in the first round, but McCourt somehow survived the shock. Collins kept the attack and transitioned to the back, immediately going for the rear-naked choke. McCourt tried to fight the hands, but was forced to tap at the 2:25 mark.

“Cyborg, I’m coming,” Collins said after the win, with a smile on her face.

The co-main event saw England’s own Simeon Powell digging deep to emerge victorious against Brazilian-German light heavyweight Rafael Xavier. Xavier came out strong early and rocked Powell twice in the opening round, landing a front kick flush to the chin and a left hand in the final seconds of the round, but Powell survived the scare. The two engaged in a close striking battle with hand blows landed in the following rounds, with Powell emerging victorious via split decision.

Powell’s teammate Luke Trainer kept his streak alive in the Bellator cage with a quick finish over Laurynas Urbonavicius, dropping the promotional newcomer with a left hand and pounding him on the ground before taking the back and securing the rear-naked choke to force the tap in just over the four minutes-mark, improving to 6-1 under the company’s banner.

Trainer called out Bellator light heavyweight champion Corey Anderson in his post-fight interview.

“Mr. Corey Anderson, keep my belt warm because next year I’m coming for you,” Trainer said after the win. “If you guys make me go through Karl Moore first, I’ve got him, and then Mr. Anderson. My belt, let’s go.”

Lightweight veteran Marc Diakiese opened the main card for his Bellator debut, 10 months after walking away from the UFC with a win over Kaue Fernandes, and dominated Tim Wilde throughout 10 minutes with superior striking and well-timed takedowns. Diakiese slowed down in the third, but did enough in the first two rounds to win a decision and celebrate his first victory in the circular cage in London.

Mike Shipman delivered the highlight of the preliminary card with a huge knee to the face of promotional newcomer Eslam Abdul Baset, scoring his third straight victory under the Bellator banner with a second-round stoppage. Moments earlier, Joseph Luciano forced Steven Hill to tap to a tight anaconda choke in the second stanza.

Check the finishes below, and click here for complete Bellator London results.

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Bellator London is set to go down today (Sat., Sept. 14, 2024) inside OVO Arena Wembley in London, England, featuring a revamped main event as Leah McCourt battles Sara Collins after the Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards Middleweight championship rematch was postponed for unknown reasons (details here). In the new co-main event, Simeon Powell battles Rafael Xavier, while Marc Diakiese makes his Bellator MMA debut against Tim Wilde.

Many readers check in before, during and after the fights to share their thoughts on all of the action, which will begin at 1 p.m. ET. Feel free to leave a comment (or several) about the bouts and chat with all the other Maniacs during the show — it’s always a lot of fun!

BELLATOR LONDON QUICK RESULTS:

Leah McCourt vs. Sara Collins
Simeon Powell vs. Rafael Xavier
Marc Diakiese vs. Tim Wilde
Laurynas Urbonavicius vs. Luke Trainer
Archie Colgan vs. Manoel Sousa – Colgan via unanimous decision
Mike Shipman vs. Eslam Abdul Baset – Shipman via second-round knockout
Joseph Luciano vs. Steven Hill – Luciano via second-round submission (anaconda choke)
Ciarán Clarke vs. Tuomas Gronvall – Clarke via unanimous decision
Darragh Kelly vs. Dmytrii Hrytsenko – Kelly via unanimous decision

For all the latest Bellator MMA news and notes click here.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Kayla Harrison is arguably the most popular bantamweight on the UFC roster since Amanda Nunes, and Norma Dumont hopes Harrison can entice Nunes to un-retire by winning the 135-pound title in 2025.

Raquel Pennington currently sits at the top of the bantamweight mountain after claiming the vacant title with a win over Mayra Bueno Silva earlier this year and defends it next versus Julianna Peña in the co-main event of UFC 307 on Oct. 5. Harrison is 1-0 in the promotion after dominating Holly Holm, and might get a title shot if she beats Ketlen Vieira on the same card.

Dumont was successful in her bantamweight debut by beating former 145-pound champion Germaine de Randamie via decision, her fourth straight victory inside the octagon, and faces Irene Aldana this weekend at UFC 306 at Sphere in Las Vegas. Dumont laments the fact the weight class lacks star power.

“Holly isn’t that much of a complicated prey anymore,” Dumont said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “That doesn’t mean she’s an easy fight, but she’s not a big reward anymore. Pennington was never a big prize either. She’s a solid athlete, but she’s not spectacular in any area. Julianna doesn’t convince anyone — everybody knows that. Kayla Harrison is the only one left, really. Kayla Harrison really is the big prize because she’s a solid athlete.”

Dumont doesn’t see the former PFL champion as an unstoppable force in the division despite her dominant debut.

“She sucks on the feet, she doesn’t even know how to walk in the octagon, but her grappling is absurdly absurd,” Dumont said of the two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo. “You have someone that is absurd in one area, so you have to completely nullify that aspect of her game, and that makes it an interesting fight. Her head is the biggest prize right now, the lottery ticket of the division, so I hope she wins the belt and I take it from her.”

Dumont also hopes that having Harrison as UFC champion convinces Amanda Nunes to end her retirement. “The Lioness” walked away as two-division champion back in June of 2023, and seemed annoyed that Harrison didn’t call out her after beating Holm in her first UFC appearance. Nunes told MMA Fighting back in 2022 that part of her decision to leave American Top Team was due to Harrison being on her “territory” at ATT.

“I think Amanda is torn on coming back,” Dumont said. “It’s hard for us athletes to retire, especially a young and physically fit woman like her. I think [her return] depends on who wins the belt. I think she might have something personal with Kayla and she wouldn’t accept seeing Kayla Harrison with the belt. But you have to take in consideration for how long she’s out, which makes it harder for a return. We can’t underestimate that.”

“In my opinion, I don’t think Amanda returns,” she continued. “I don’t know if Amanda wants it anymore. From the bottom of my heart, I want her to come back, because then we would have two big prizes in the division. To become one of the greats, I need big prizes. I can’t just beat a bunch of nobodies. Amanda beat up the entire division but only became a star when she knocked out Cris Cyborg. Kayla Harrison can win the belt today but people will say she wouldn’t do it if Amanda was still around, and that sucks for the athlete.”

The official UFC bantamweight rankings currently have Julianna Peña, Ketlen Vieira, Kayla Harrison, Macy Chiasson and Irene Aldana in the top-5 in that order, with Dumont currently sitting at No. 9. The top 15 also includes names like Chelsea Chandler, who is yet to successfully make 135 pounds in the UFC.

“I’m being absolutely honest here,” Dumont said, “I really hoped that Cris could make weight, that [Larissa] Pacheco could make weight, and Amanda came back, so we could form an absurd division that the champion could definitively say, ‘That’s it, I’m the f*cking best.’

“Anyway, I’ll just have to do a great job with what I have in front of me. We still have tough athletes. Irene is one of them, Macy is one of them, and so are Ketlen, Pennington and Kayla Harrison. I would only get Julianna out of there because she’s just median, but the other ones are tough. We have difficult opponents, but we don’t have big names.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

MMA Fighting has Canelo vs. Berlanga results live for the Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga fight card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., on Saturday night.

When the main event begins around 11 p.m. ET, check out our Canelo vs. Berlanga live round-by-round updates for our live blog of the main event. Canelo Alvarez will try to hand Berlanga his first career loss.

Canelo Alvarez (61-2-2) has won four straight fights and competes for the second time this year. He defeated Jaime Munguia via unanimous decision this past May.

Edgar Berlanga (22-0) knocked out Padraig McCrory in the sixth round this past February in his only appearance of 2024.

Check out Canelo vs. Berlanga results below.

Main card (DAZN/PPV.com at 8 p.m. ET)

Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga for Alvarez’s WBC, WBA, WBO, Ring Magazine titles

Erislandy Lara vs. Danny Garcia for Lara’s WBA world middleweight title

Caleb Plant vs. Trevor McCumby for WBA interim super middleweight title

Rolando Romero vs. Manuel Jaimes (super lightweight)

Prelims (MMA Fighting at 6 p.m. ET)

Stephen Fulton vs. Carlos Castro

Roman Villa vs. Ricardo Salas

Jonathan Lopez vs. Ricky Medina

Lawrence King vs. Vaughn Williams

Yoenli Hernandez vs. Jose Charles

Bek Nurmaganbet vs. Joshua Conley

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