Bellator 200 Full Results: Gegard Mousasi Becomes New Middleweight Champion

Bellator seems to have a good luck charm when it comes to their big events and amazing cards. Months ago Bellator held their first New York event in Madison Square Garden. That event saw quite the quirky couple of fights, including a main event that had a double knockdown in it, something you rarely see. This time around, Bellator had a card that was absolutely stacked with finishes, as the promotion celebrated its 200th event. The SSE Wembley Arena played host to the special event. The venue looked to be completely full, except for the odd seat or two.

The card had a main event in Gegard Mousasi challenging Rafael Carvalho for the Middleweight Championship. This, along with many other fights had an ending that was not predicted by me. Conveniently, the show ended before midnight Eastern, despite the program being scheduled to go to 12:30. Due to the nature of timezones, the event was held in London during what would be early morning for North America. The show was aired on a tape delay, starting at 9PM EST. Bellator has done this many times before. People online had to do their best to avoid spoilers for the show. Mauro Ranallo and “Big” John McCarthy were the two voices of the show tonight. The show had an absence of Mirko Cro Cop and Roy Nelson, after their scheduled match was scrapped. MMAFighting further elaborated on why this happened. The show started with a Light Heavyweight competition between Linton Vassell and Phil Davis.

1. Linton Vassell versus Phil Davis was the first bout on the main card. This bout was done in the Light Heavyweight division. I would have covered the preliminary card, but due to time zones I could not. Near the end of the first round, Davis tagged Vassell, making him wobble for a second. He recovered, but took many more strikes from Davis. Davis landed two strong knees near the end of the round. Vassell was able to get a takedown in the second round, but Davis was able to stay present. Phil Davis was able to win the fight with a Right Kick to the head in the third round. No insurance strikes were really needed after the kick. Even though he won via stoppage, as the predicted scorecards had it, he probably would have won by decision anyways. The fight was ended in Round 3, at 1:05.

2. Anastasia Yankova faced Kate Jackson in a Women’s Flyweight bout. Both fighters got a much more bland entrance than Vassell and Davis. Jackson is from England, but that did not make the crowd side with her more than Yankova. The fight was brought to the ground within the first minute. Jackson tried to put Yankova in a Rear Naked Choke, but Yankova escaped almost immediately after. While on the ground, it was mostly Jackson who landed strikes. In the second round, Yankova got some strikes in with around 30 seconds left in the round. The fight went the distance. Kate Jackson got the win with the scorecards saying 30-26, 30-26 & 29-27 for a Unanimous Decision.

3. Mike Shipman and Carl Noon squared off for the third bout on the main card. Commentator Mauro Ranallo hailed Mike Shipman as a hometown hero, though the crowd did not show him much love. To be fair, you could put that on this crowd being dead pretty much all night. Just seconds in, Shipman floored Noon with a right. He ended the fight with Hammer-fist strikes. The fight ended in just over ten seconds.

4. The fourth fight on the card was Ash Griffiths versus Aaron Chalmers. The fight was in a 163 Catchweight class. Chalmers comes into this fight undefeated. Chalmers took a knee mid-way through the first round, but then dropped Griffiths with a strike. Chalmers won the fight with a Standing Guillotine only moments later. Chalmers improved his record to 4-0.

5. In the Welterweight class, Michael Page faced David Rickels. Rickels had a very unique attire, wearing pants that had cut rows of fabric. I can only assume that it was supposed to be a caveman look, to accompany his nickname. Rickels looked very confident in the first round, with lots of aneurysms and movements that made him look comfortable. Page absolutely dominated with strikes in the first round. Page struck a pose, which Rickels allowed, but did not enjoy watching. Rickels got absolutely dropped by a strike, but recovered and stood back up. Continuing the mind games, Page stood someone hunched over, waiting for Rickels to get fighting again. It was apparent at this point that this fight was a clash of two big personalities. Page got another combo, then did many dance moves to end the round. After a hard hit to Rickels’ left eye, which made him bleed like crazy, he did something that I rarely see in MMA. Rickels audibly quit the fight, giving Michael Page the win in the second round. After the fight, Page puts on an Infinity Stone glove, then does some dance moves (he could have been trying to impersonate Fortnite dances, but it was too hard to tell). After the commercial break, the broadcast showed Chris Pratt and 50 Cent posing for a photo with Michael Page.

6. The main event of Bellator 200, is Gegard Mousasi challenged Rafael Carvalho for the Middleweight Championship. In the first round, Mousasi was absolutely hammering away with right hands while Carvalho was on the ground. Carvalho did not really defend himself, making the ref end the fight. Mousasi is the new Middleweight Championship. After the fight, he calls out Rory MacDonald to fight him now that he is the champion.