Heart and desire and no little skill and grind brought a life-defining moment for Rafael Lovato Jr as he claimed the Bellator middleweight title against an MMA legend in Gegard Mousasi in London.
It all came down to the fifth and final round with the two men seemingly two rounds apiece. But it was Lovato who drew on his physicality to maintain his unbeaten record and create an emotional and dramatic night in his journey from jiu jitsu ace to MMA world champion.
Given the history of the sport with Brazilian jiu jitsu having played such a formative part in the growth of MMA, success like that of Lovato will always resonate strongly.
Lovato expressed how much it meant for his career – and indeed his life – afterwards: “My life’s work and a lot of heart was on display tonight. It is impossible for me to put all of this into words. I am overwhelmed with emotion… The underdog did it. I have so many people to thank but for now, I just want to thank everyone who believed in me and was behind me tonight. Now it’s finally time to relax.”
It was a tough night for Mousasi, an overwhelming favourite, who came back into the fight in the third and fourth rounds, hurting Lovato – breaking him up, overwhelming him and cutting his eye in one brutal attack – after the American had used his unorthodox striking, takedowns and exquisite ground game in a dominant first two opening rounds with the Armenian-Dutch fighter strangely subdued.
But that fifth round was a dramatic denouement to a long night of 19 intriguing fights at the Wembley SSE Arena.
In his 100th professional fight, Melvin ‘No Mercy’ Manhoef claimed a points victory against Kent Kauppinen in a back and forth, entertaining stand-up contest after Aaron Chalmers – the former Geordie Shore reality TV star – had submitted Fred ‘the Demon’ Freeman in the second round of their contest at catchweight 160lbs to show great improvements on the ground under new coach Alex Enlund.
Fight of the night was arguably an exhausting brawl of a fight which took place between popular British striker Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley and Erik ‘The Tiger’ Silva, which proved the perfect appetiser for the headline event.
Silva showed great reserves of desire to respond and counter the many attacks of Daley in what was a barn-burner of a fight.
Bellator’s highly-touted Irish star James Gallagher took a split points decision against Jeremiah Labiano in a very tight contest with the two men embracing afterwards to quash their beef after indulging in a good dose of smacktalk going into the fight.
Elsewhere, there was a fine victory for British women’s flyweight fighter Kate Jackson, over Lena Ovchynnikova of Ukraine, whose victory was duly noted by Bellator’s flyweight champion Ilima-lei MacFarlane, sitting cageside, who pointed to Jackson as a potential opponent when the Hawaiian defends her crown in her homeland in December.
Overall, the card comprising of nineteen contests, progressed many careers, and pushed others down the sport’s slippery, unforgiving ladder.
Conor McGregor’s former bodyguard Charlie ‘Relentless’ Ward showed great all-round abilities against Justin ‘The Gorilla’ Moore in a terrific fight earlier on in the night, and there were victories for British talents Terry Brazier and Fabian Edwards.
Bellator is set to return again for its European series on September 27 (Friday) and October 12 (Saturday) with events in Dublin and Milan, it was announced this week. Bellator president Scott Coker has pledged that events in Europe will double next year as the burgeoning fight league spreads its wings across The Pond.