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Bellator 209 took place on the 16th of November, 2018, in Tel Aviv, Israel and was an insanely good show, with each fight bringing with it an immense amount of entertainment.
The main card was stacked and saw “Pitbull” Patricio Freire (27-4) defend his Featherweight title against the up and coming star Emmanuel Sanchez (17-3) in the main event of the night. It was a huge opportunity for Sanchez when he took on this veteran of the Octagon as it was also the first-ever title opportunity he got in his entire career.
The co-main event of the night was between Ryan Couture and Haim Gozali. This was not the first time these two came across each other in the cage, as they had met previously at Bellator 180, where Couture had come away with the Unanimous Decision victory.
The rest of the card had plenty of action to keep the viewers entertained. In this article, we will be taking a look at each of the fights on the main card in detail as well as the results from the Preliminary Card.
Before heading into the Main Card, the Preliminary Card Results are as follows:
Preliminary Card:
Khonry Gracie vs. Ron Becker — Khonry Gracie via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).
Aviv Gozali vs. Anton Lazebnov — Aviv Gozali via Submission (Armbar, 4 minutes and 27 seconds, Round 1).
Ion Pop vs. Itsik Rubinov — Itsik Rubinov via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
Shimon Smotritsky vs. Matan Levi — Shimon Smotritsky via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).
Fadi Haiyadre vs. Christos Nicolaou — Christos Nicolaou via TKO (4 minutes and 48 seconds, Round 1).
Honor Kelesh vs. Andrei Barbarosa — Andrei Barbarosa via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Yulia Sachkov vs. Viktoria Makarova — Viktoria Makarova via TKO (2 minutes and 44 seconds, Round 1).
Kirill Medvedovsky vs. Denis Palancica — Denis Palancica via Unanimous Decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-28).
Liudvik Sholinian vs. Sidemar Honorio — Sidemar Honorio via Unanimous Decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26).
Jackie Gosh vs. Jamil Ibragimov — Jamil Ibragimov via TKO (1 minute and 37 seconds, Round 1).
Nisim Rozalis vs. Nika Ben Tuashy — Nika Ben Tuashy via TKO (47 seconds, Round 1).
Now, let's get into the main card from the night.
#5 Adam Keresh vs. Kirill Sidelnikov:
Adam Keresh was the hot hometown favourite heading into this fight. He got taken down early, but when he got up, he brought the crowd to their feet as well. A head kick from him saw Sidelnikov get hurt, and then a hook finished the first fight of the main card fast.
Results: Adam Keresh defeated Kirill Sidelnikov via Knockout (1st Round, 1 minute and 12 seconds).
#4 Olga Rubin vs. Cindy Dandois:
The fight was not aired on Paramount.
Results: Olga Rubin defeated Cindy Dandois via Unanimous Decision (29-27, 30-26, 30-27).
#3 Vadim Nemkov vs. Phil Davis:
The first round ended in the favour of Phil Davis. From beginning to end, Nemkov appeared to have control over Davis and it was only Davis somehow managing to wriggle in counter strikes that kept him in the fight.
Davis ended the round strong but the second round was more of the same from Nemkov. Nemkov landed a couple of hard leg kicks and then uppercuts. He even managed to throw Davis to the ground at the end of the round.
Davis seemed to have control at the end of the third round as he took down Nemkov and spent the entire time trying to lock in a Kimura. Nemkov was able to block it and that combined with his significant strikes won him the fight.
Results: Vadim Nemkov defeated Phil Davis via Split Decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
#2 Haim Gozali vs. Ryan Couture:
The co-main event of the night saw Gozali face Ryan Couture in a fight where he was looking for revenge after suffering a loss against him at Bellator 180. Gozali pressured him early but Couture got better of each clinch and threw him to the ground at the end of the 1st round, kicking his legs.
Gozali was looking for the big shot throughout to try and put Couture away early but was instead the one cut open by Couture. He faced a lot of pressure and was taken down by Couture yet again.
The final round was even worse for him and couldn't even mount any offence. The hometown fighter found himself outclassed by Couture.
Results: Ryan Couture defeated Haim Gozali via Unanimous Decision (29-27, 30-27, 30-26).
#1 Patricio Freire vs. Emmanuel Sanchez:
The first round belonged to 'Pitbull' Freire in every way possible. Sanchez was outclassed completely after he landed only one punch in the whole of the first round.
Freire's veteran experience shone through as he took down Sanchez twice during the second round after opening a cut under his right eye and pounding him black and blue.
The third, fourth, and fifth round continued to see domination by Freire over Sanchez as his opponent had no credible come back to his name that he could possibly even think of mounting. It was Freire all the way and Sanchez will have a lot to do before he gets another title shot.
Results: Patricio Freire defeated Emmanuel Sanchez via Unanimous Decision (48-46, 48-47, 48-47)
