If there was a perfect weekend for Bellator to host an event in June, it would be this one. No interference from UFC events, with hungry fight fans watching this show in anticipation for International Fight Week. The main event of the card has Ilima-Lei Macfarlane defending her Women’s Flyweight Championship against Alejandra Lara in a five round bout. Macfarlane is also putting her undefeated streak on the line in the fight. Lower down in the main card is Saad Awad versus Brian Couture, two fighters who have been long-time fighters for Bellator. This fight ends the over one year pocket of time that Couture went without fighting. On the flipside of things, Awa just fought in January on the 193 card. Valerie Letourneau is set to fight undefeated (2-0) Kristina Williams, as well as Juan Archuleta faces Robbie Peralta in a Featherweight fight. Below the four fight main card was 8 preliminary fights, which were available online through Bellator’s site. Live from the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California, the night started with a Heavyweight fight.
- The evening started on the prelims with Tyrell Fortune facing Giovanni Sarran in the Heavyweight division. Tyrell absolutely dominated in the first round, absolutely hammering down some strikes while on the ground. Tyrell got close to finishing the fight but never fully got there. With under a minute left in the second round, the ref stopped the fight due to strikes. This fight came off as sad.
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Fortune | 10 | |||
| Giovanni | 9 |
- Joey Davis and Craig Plaskett continued the prelims in the Welterweight division. At the start of first round Plaskett almost immediately went for a takedown. When going back to standing position Davis seemed more dominant. Davis, who has a background in wrestling went for impressive takedowns during the first round. The second round was almost all Davis. At the start of round 3 the ref quickly noticed that Plaskett walked into the round with no mouthpiece. Halfway through the final round Davis absolutely cut open Plaskett with strikes on the ground. Davis was ahead until the round came to a close. All three judges gave Joey Davis the win Unanimously (30-26, 30-26 & 30-26).
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Davis | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
| Plaskett | 9 | 9 | 8 | 26 |
- Ed Ruth against Andy Murad in a Welterweight bout was next. Ruth was in control for the whole fight, knowing the perfect time to strike. A second before the second round would end, the ref ended the fight standing.
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Ruth | 10 | |||
| Murad | 9 |
- Switching to the Paramount Network for the main card, Juan Archuleta faced Robbie Peralta in the Featherweight division. This fight was close for the first two rounds. In the third round Archuleta dropped Peralta right out of the gates with a right, ending the fight via TKO. Juan Archuleta gave an emotional interview, mentioning that his daughter had a seizure this morning.
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Archuleta | 10 | 9 | ||
| Peralta | 9 | 10 |
- In our first of two women’s fights of the evening, Kristina Williams faced Valerie Letourneau in the Flyweight weight class. In the first round Williams knocked down Letourneau, but didn’t try to go in with an attack. Letourneau dropped Williams shortly after, but went to the ground for striking. The ref stood both fighters up for the final 20 seconds of the round. Williams showed more prevalent in the second round. At the start of the final round both fighters hammered away. The fight went the distance, with it going either way in my opinion. All three judges gave Letourneau the win (29-28, 29-28 & 29-28).
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Williams | 9 | 10 | 10 | 29 |
| Letourneau | 10 | 9 | 9 | 28 |
- In our co-main event, Saad Awad fought Ryan Couture. With a minute left in the first Saad Awad shook Couture with strikes, putting him into a defensive mode until the ref eventually called it off.
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
| Awad | ||||
| Couture |
- Finally, the main event of the evening, Ilima-Lei MacFarlane defended her title against Alejandra Lara. Both fighters got very grand entrances. The first round had very impressive ground game between both fighters. In the third round MacFarlane locked in an Armbar to retain her championship.
My Scorecard:
| Fighter | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Total |
| MacFarlane | 10 | 10 | ||||
| Lara | 9 | 9 |
Once UFC’s International Fight Week is over, Bellator will be having their own little fight week, with a card on July 13 and 14. The first card is from Oklahoma with Julia Budd and Talita Nogueira headlining for the Women’s Featherweight belt. The next day will be Bellator 203 in Rome, Italy. The card has Patricio Freire and Daniel Weichel fighting for the Featherweight belt, but also has an undercard of kickboxing. In the kickboxing, Featherweight champion Kevin Ross defends his belt against Gabriel Varga. For UFC and Bellator, there is a lot of fights to look forward to.
JackWannan.com 