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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.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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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

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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Laura Sanko feels that the Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili bantamweight title fight won’t see the scorecards.

O’Malley and Dvalishvili will headline Saturday’s UFC 306 card at Sphere in Las Vegas. Dvalishvili has earned his opportunity after a double-digit win streak, while O’Malley looks to defend his title for the second time since stopping Dvalishvili’s teammate Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292.

The UFC analyst and color commentator is fascinated by the matchup, but can see the fight ending early.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Merab wins, that’s certainly not what I’m here to say,” Sanko told MMA Fighting. “But I do favor a shorter fight, and that, to me, tells me that Sean O’Malley has found his moments to move and be a sniper.

“I do think that we will know very quickly in this fight what it’s going to look like. That’s not to say that I think, necessarily, that Sean is going to knock him out early, [although] that’s certainly a possibility. It’s a very good possibility.

“The other possibility is that Merab starts really putting a pace on Sean, and we see Sean struggle to get his lateral movement going, and all of the things that allow him to express himself on the feet. I just think we’re going to know pretty early what direction this train leaves the station.”

O’Malley is being positioned as one of the promotion’s top stars as he prepares to headline his second pay-per-view card of 2024. “Suga” has been pushed as a top guy since earning his contract on Dana White’s Contender Series.

On the flip side, Dvalishvili has had to scratch and claw to earn his first championship opportunity. While not always revered by the fanbase, things have certainly changed in that department over the past couple of years — including the surprisingly long history between the challenger and O’Malley.

“The rise of Merab has been more of a crock pot rise, a little bit more of a slow cook on that one,” Sanko explained. “I love watching him figure out what works for him though, he has found a way to reach into the hearts of an American audience that probably didn’t feel all that connected to him when he first stepped inside of the octagon.

“At the same time that his fighting has continued to get better and better and better, and his competitors have gotten better and better and better, and his wins have gotten better and better and better. He has also become more likeable, and more engaging. It’s just really hard not to root for someone who is so gregarious, and likable. And that jacket moment? I’m sorry, there’s just no way you can even try to plan something like that out. It had to be organic. It was so perfect.”

There are many layers stylistically between O’Malley and Dvalishvili the further you dig, but to most fans, this appears to be the classic striker vs. grappler matchup.

Sanko is fascinated by the types of intangibles both bring to the table. On the challenger side, the wild, never-stop cardio and pace he brings to the table, and his ability to demoralize his competition. With the champion, it’s movement, being coachable, and excellent fight IQ.

“If there was a Mount Rushmore of pace, I promise you Merab Dvalishvili would be on it,” Sanko said. “It is a weapon in it of itself that not only allows you to take the fight where you want it to go, but it completely shuts down the decision making that your opponent is allowed to do. Merab’s particular style of approaching grappling is not necessarily to get the takedown, get a dominant position and do damage… he can do that, for sure. I’m not saying that’s not a goal of his. But one of the things that he is, I think, the best in the world at, is almost allowing guys to get back up, and then take them down again, and then they kind of scramble up, and then take them down again. If you talk to any fighter, that up-down pace is the hardest pace of all to master.

“That being said, I do think that Sean O’Malley has one of the best coaches for him in the entire world. I think that he and Tim [Welch] are the perfect pair, and I think that they’re incredibly intelligent in the way that they prepare for these fights, and they wouldn’t have asked for it if they didn’t feel like Sean was prepared to get through those moments where he would have time to operate in space, use his footwork — he’s got some of the best footwork in the entire UFC. That’s a fact, and I’ve been saying that forever.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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