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If Bellator 301 was the final card in the company’s history, it went out with a bang.
On Friday evening at WinTrust Arena in Chicago, Jason Jackson authored one of the most surprising outcomes of the year, flattening the previously undefeated Yaroslav Amosov to become the new Bellator welterweight champion.
Jackson made Amosov uncomfortable from the outset, applying constant pressure and defending Amosov’s takedowns brilliantly. In the third round, Jackson dropped Amosov with a straight right hand and then put the pedal down, finally ending the bout with a nasty short uppercut as Amosov tried for a desperation takedown.
Jackson moves to 17-4 and is the seventh fighter to hold the Bellator welterweight title, while the loss was the first of Amosov’s career, moving him to 27-1 overall. The bout was also the final fight of the Bellator on Showtime era – and possibly of the promotion in general.
In the co-main event, Patchy Mix continued his impressive run, demolishing Sergio Pettis to claim the undisputed bantamweight title. Mix was simply too much for Pettis from the opening bell, taking the champion down at will and controlling the action for most of the first round. The same thing happened in the second, except this time he moved to the back and locked in a rear-naked choke that forced Pettis to tap 1:51 seconds into the second round. Mix now moves to 19-1 in his professional career.
Also on the main card, Raufeon Stots moved to 2-0 over Danny Sabatello, winning their rematch by unanimous decision. In a more entertaining fight than their first encounter, Stots and Sabatello were both much more aggressive with their striking, while still having the same thrilling scrambles on the mat. In the end, Stots was simply able to do more damage to take home the decision.
In a featured lightweight bout on the evening, AJ McKee kept his perfect record at 155 pounds alive, taking a unanimous decision over Sidney Outlaw in an extremely bloody affair. It was an uninspiring fight with Outlaw scoring takedowns and retaining top position, but not offering up much offense. Meanwhil,e McKee stayed active off his back, outstriking Outlaw and opening up a nasty cut that left both men covered in blood. In the end, McKee swept all three rounds on all judges’s scorecards.
In the main card opener, Alexander Shabliy punched his ticket to the lightweight grand prix final, dominating Patricky Pitbull over five rounds to secure a wide unanimous decision victory. Shabliy’s striking was simply too much for the former Bellator lightweight champion as he bloodied and battered Pitbull with a variety of jabs, hooks, and kicks.
Shabliy will ostensibly face lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov in the lightweight grand prix finale sometime next year.
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