Alan Belcher secured his first bareknuckle mixed martial arts victory against Roy Nelson in their three-round Gamebred Fighting Championship 6 main event clash at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi, on Friday night.
Both Ultimate Fighting Championship veterans put on an impressive display of grit and perseverance in a bout that could have been scored for either side. While Belcher (19-8) had significant success in the standup portion of the bout, especially in the first frame, Nelson (24-20) managed to log an overwhelming amount of control time on the ground.
Much to the surprise of many observers, Belcher went home with a split-decision victory (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).
In the co-main event, former UFC bantamweight Randy Costa (8-4) recorded an emphatic knockout victory at the 1:41 mark of Round 1 against combat sports veteran Jason Knight (23-8) in a featherweight contest.
Costa unleashed a barrage of straight punches mixed with kicks on his opponent right out of the gate. An overwhelmed Knight attempted to regain his bearings before getting viciously dropped during an exchange against the cage with the faster Costa. While “The Kid” managed to get back to his feet and throw a few strikes of his own, it took “The Zohan” a few more seconds to land another devastating right hand, which sent his worn-out opponent crashing to the canvas.
In another heavyweight offering, UFC alum Chase Sherman (16-12) delivered a devastating knockout finish at the 2:34 mark of Round 1 against California native Carl Seumanutafa (13-14).
In the only bantamweight matchup on the card, Brandon Davis (14-12) fought his way to a unanimous decision victory against Joseph Penafiel (11-7). Meanwhile, in a middleweight pairing, Curtis Millender (22-9) managed to find his way to a split-decision win against Joel Bauman (8-4).
In one of the few bouts that ended via submission, Elias Alves da Silva (27-11) tapped Joshua Weems (13-4) via triangle kimura in Round 3 of their featherweight meeting.
Elsewhere, former PFL fighter Alex Nicholson (17-10) starched Prince McClean (9-10) just 19 seconds into the first frame of their heavyweight meeting.
Meanwhile, Francisco Trinaldo (28-9) went home with a technical knockout victory against Sasha Palatnikov (8-5) after the latter was unable to continue due to a knee injury sustained under two minutes into the opening frame of the match.
Following a bizarre stoppage, Hector Lombard (35-11) suffered a Round 1 disqualification loss for punching opponent Chris Sarro (2-0) in the back of the head in their light heavyweight contest. Lombard is now on a nine-fight winless streak in his MMA career.
Earlier, Tyler Hill (11-8) snapped a four-fight losing streak with a Round 1 TKO victory against James Freeman (6-7), while Mike Sanford (1-0) made a successful MMA debut with a rear-naked choke submission victory against fellow debutant Alex Gordy (0-1).
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