Bellator 256 Results

Bellator second event after huge break bring us begining of their new World Grand Prix, this time in Light Heavyweight division. First bout of the new Bellator World Grand Prix is a rematch between Ryan Bader and Lyoto Machida. These two previously meet at 'UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera' where Machida was victorious by way of knockout. Bader is former UFC fighter and current Bellator Heavyweight champion while he is now on a quest to retain his light heavyweight title after TKO loss against current LHW kingpin Vadim Nemkov. Machida is also with a great resume, since he is former UFC Light Heavyweight champion of the world. Very important to mention, all fights in Grand Prix will be 5 round fight.

John Douma was better against Will Smith in the bantamweight scrap. After three rounds of fighting, Douma was the winner by split decision. Second round was a key for win in this fight because first was obvious for Douma and third was clearly Smith's round. Very close fight that could gone either way.

What an debut for Avsaragova and what finish against Tara Graff. Nainoa Dung was able to control Izzy William and earn unanimous decision win. While stand up fight belongs to Dung in this fight, whenever they were on the ground, William had an adventage.

Very dominant win for Jaylon Bates against Jeffrey Glossner. He put a lot of pressure on Glossner with takedowns, very active grappling and patience before he was able to lock in the attempt of submission.

Cody Law dominated Nathan Ghareeb through the whole fight. Law got very good control from guard and he was able to utilise that adventage in every round. Therefore, well deserved unanimous decision win for Law.

Jornel Lugo continue his rise through bantamweight division after another great perfomance against very tough opponent, Cass Bell. In round one and two Lugo was able to manage distance very well, land more punches and earn those round very convincingly. In third and final round, Lugo switch up and goes for takedown, after that he controlled whole round on ground while Bell didn't had any chance. Very dominant unanimous decision win for Jornel Lugo.

Talita Nogueira convincingly won this bout against Jessica Borga event though she got deducted one point in round two due to repeated blows to the back of the head. But, even with deducted point Nogueira was very dominant and she didn't give Borga a chance for a win. After three rounds, it was unanmious decision win for Talita Nogueira.

Dalton Rosta defeated Tony Johnson by unanimous decision win. Rosta had few takedowns and he was the one controlling fight the whole time. It's really odd that Johnson didn't try to go for finish in third round when he knew he was down 2-0 in rounds.

Very, very close fight and a split decision win for Dan Moret against Goiti Yamauchi. In round one, Moret was the that make good impression and probably won the round, while round two was surely round for Yamauchi. Third and final round of this fight was the closest round and it could gone either way.

Cat Zingano make a quick work of Olivia Parker and in dominant fashion finished fight via armbar.

Adam Borics and Jeremy Kennedy fight a three round tactical battle in a featherweight division. All rounds were very close, but Borics did left better impression with an advancing and really good low kicks through the whole fight. Well deserved unanimous decision win for Borics.

Liz Carmouche did a great job against Vanessa Porto and won fight by unanimous decision. Carmouche was able to control the action in cage very well, enough to don't give a huge chance for Porto.

Bellator new World Grand Prix started with this main event between Ryan Bader and Lyoto Machida. After good first round by Machida, Bader start to do what he knows best, wrestling and ground and pound. From round two to five we saw exact same scenario, Bader gets takedown and then doing damage with a lot of punches while Machida unsuccessfully trying to get up. Unanimous decision win for Ryan Bader as he advancing to the semi-final where he will meet better from Corey Anderson/Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov fight next week.

Results:

Preliminary card

• John Douma def. Will Smith by Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28)

• Diana Avsaragova def. Tara Graff via KO (punches) in round 1

• Nainoa Dung def. Izzy William by Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28)

• Jaylon Bates def. Jeffrey Glossner via Submission (Japanese necktie) in round 2 [c]

• Cody Law def. Nathan Ghareeb by Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)

• Jornel Lugo def. Cass Bell by Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 30–27, 30–27)

• Talita Nogueira def. Jessica Borga by Decision (unanimous) (29–27, 29–27, 29–27) [b]

• Dalton Rosta def. Tony Johnson by Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)

Main card

• Dan Moret def. Goiti Yamauchi by Decision (split) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)

• Cat Zingano def. Olivia Parker via Submission (armbar) in round 1

• Ádám Borics def. Jeremy Kennedy by Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28)

• Liz Carmouche def. Vanessa Porto by Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 30–27)

• Ryan Bader def. Lyoto Machida by Decision (unanimous) (49–46, 49–45, 49–45) [a]

[a] Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix Tournament Quarter-Final bout.

[b] Nogueira was deducted a point in Round 2 due to repeated blows to the back of the head.

[c] Catchweight (137.8 lb), Glossner missed weight