Jason Jackson has been on a roll lately, having conquered such foes as Benson Henderson, Neiman Gracie and Paul Daley. He can now add former Bellator MMA champion Douglas Lima to his ledger.
Jackson (16-4) dominated Lima from start to finish, taking the former three-time champ down in every round and controlling the action from there, winning a horribly lopsided unanimous decision in the main event of Bellator 283 on Friday night in the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington.
Lima (32-11) had little in the tank in terms of fighting back. He seemed resigned to just accept the takedowns and survive. The crowd angrily booed the lack of action for most of rounds three through five, but Lima never had the desire to try and turn the tides. He instead laid on his back, opened his guard from time to time, but showed little effort in trying the snap his three-fight losing streak.
Jackson did what he needed to in order to win, he just couldn’t put Lima away. All three cage-side judges favored the Jamaican via tallies of 50-45, allowing him to ascend the Bellator welterweight title ladder.
Tofiq Musayev made it look incredibly easy against Sidney Outlaw in the co-main event, stopping him in just 27 seconds. Outlaw (16-5) came right at Musayev but that was his ultimate downfall. A crisp right-left to the head wobbled Outlaw’s knees and as he tried to recover, Musayev (19-4) floored him with a crushing right hook to the jaw. Outlaw crumbled in a heap and referee Keith Peterson immediately stopped the lightweight skirmish.
Lightweight contender Usman Nurmagomedov remained unbeaten against Christopher Gonzalez and he did it in a flash. After two minutes that saw the lightweights size each other up, they finally let their hands go. However, once Nurmagomedov (15-0) scored a textbook trip takedown, the Russian immediately locked in the guillotine and got the tap. Gonzalez (7-2) tried to free himself, but the choke was instant and tight. The end came at 2:54 of the opening frame.
Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Lorenz Larkin (24-7, 2 NC) thought his welterweight fight with Mukhamed Berkhamov was going according to plan until he landed an elbow to the Russian’s head. Unfortunately, Larkin’s elbow was directly to the back of Berkamov’s melon while he was trying to take “Monsoon” down. Berkamov collapsed to the canvas once the referee yelled foul and after a few minutes of speaking with the ref and translator, Berkamov (14-0, 1 NC) said he was unable to continue. Since the blow was accidental and illegal, the fight was declared a “No Contest,” officially coming to an end at 2:52 of the first.
Chicago’s Davion Franklin had been pounding out everybody he has faced coming into his heavyweight showdown with Marcelo Golm, but he suffered the first loss of his pro career via submission Friday night. Franklin (5-1) scored three powerful slams in the first and it seemed like he was going to snuff out his opponent, but Golm (10-3) weathered the storm and slowly wore down Franklin. With only 24 seconds left in the third, an exhausted Franklin had a head kick caught, which turned into a takedown and eventually a rear-naked choke, where “All Day” tapped out.
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