Fight Facts: Bellator 233
What an incredible night of fights we had at the @WinstarWorld Casino last night!
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) November 9, 2019
Here are your winners! Did you call any of these before #Bellator233 went down? pic.twitter.com/meGVye5RAR
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Fight Facts is a breakdown of all the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.
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TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR FIGHTS: 2,563
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR EVENTS: 235
Bellator MMA on Friday returned to the Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma, with a card that promised action and largely delivered. Bellator 233 featured a renowned fighter hanging up his gloves on his own terms, an unusual forearm choke and a pair of undefeated brothers who both kept it rolling on fight night.
IS IT OVERTRAINING?: Bellator 219 in March featured two fights that ended as a result of injuries, becoming the first in Bellator history to do so. Bellator 233 was the second card where more than one injury stoppage took place, as E.J. Brooks injured his arm and Jason Perrotta hurt his knee in their respective bouts.
THE ‘KING’ ABDICATES: In his final MMA bout, Muhammed Lawal suffered a knockout in 82 seconds at the hands of Andrew Kapel. Although he went out on a four-fight knockout losing streak, “King Mo” previously held the Strikeforce light heavyweight crown. The former Bellator light heavyweight title challenger also won the inaugural Rizin Fighting Federation openweight tournament, beating Jiri Prochazka and Teodoras Aukstuolis in one night to take home the gold in 2015.
THE GREAT MUPPET KAPEL: Kapel earned the biggest win of his career by finishing Lawal. Across his 15 career wins, he has stopped his opponent in 14 of them, including 13 in the opening round.
BINK TO THE KING: “King Mo” dropped his fourth bout inside the Bellator cage by knockout, tying Brian Rogers, David Rickels, Joey Beltran and Derek Campos for the most Bellator knockout losses.
LUCKY NUMBER SLAWAL: The loss was Lawal’s seventh with the promotion, tying him with six other fighters for the most in Bellator history. Only Georgi Karakhanyan (eight) and Saad Awad (10) have more.
THAT COLLEGE WRESTLING WEIGHT: Lawal’s bout against Kapel was contested at 195 pounds, making it the lightest bout of his 32-fight career. All of his previous fights took place at light heavyweight, heavyweight or openweight.
ONE LAST MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB: Arlene Blencowe captured a decision over Leslie Smith and is now one win shy of the divisional record set by champion and two-time opponent Julia Budd (seven).
TAKING THAT ANGERFIST ON TOUR: Blencowe’s appearance was her ninth inside the promotion, extending her own record for the most fights in Bellator women’s featherweight history.
HEY BROTHER: Tyrell Fortune and his brother Tyree Fortune competed on a card together for the second time. They first did so at Bellator 193. Both times the Fortunes have fought on the same night in Bellator, they have both won.
A WISE MAN TURNS CHANCE INTO GOOD FORTUNE: Tyrell laid waste to Azunna Anyanwu with punches in the second round, improving his spotless record to 8-0 with six finishes. All eight of his pro appearances have come inside the Bellator cage.
INSUBORDINATE AND CHURLISH: After submitting Sean Clements with a rear-naked choke, Aaron McKenzie has finished his opponent in all seven of his career victories. His lone loss came by decision.
EH TWO, AARON?: Each of McKenzie’s seven stoppage wins have come in Round 2 and within a narrow window, from 2:35 to 4:44.
SHORT-NAKED CHOKE: Lucas Brennan hit Jacob Landin with a forearm choke -- a variation of the rear-naked choke -- and became the first fighter in promotional history to ever pull off this maneuver.
JESUS DIDN’T TAP:: In his three career bouts, Landin has yet to win and now hols two submission defeats. Additionally, “Jiu-Jitsu Jesus” has competed three times as a pro boxer, having posted three losses without a win. Landin did record two submission wins as an amateur MMA fighter, but he tapped out on three separate occasions.
THE KICK IS A WHIP: Christian Edwards needed only 16 seconds to level Cesar Bennett with a head kick, earning the second-quickest stoppage of its kind in organizational history. The fastest came in six seconds and was authored Michele Martignoni against Simone D'Anna at Bellator 203 in 2018.
KOMBINUOTAS PERTRAUKIKLIS: Prior to his bout with Julius Anglickas, Jordan Young was undefeated at 11-0 with nine submission victories to his credit. The Lithuanian handed Young his first loss over three rounds by unanimous decision.
SAY IT, DON’T SPRAY IT: When Perrotta injured his knee, he verbally submitted to stop the fight. He is the fourth fighter under the Bellator banner to tap out verbally, joining Awad, Joe Warren and Wendle Lewis. Three of those four of have done so in 2019.
SHE KILLED A LADY: Amanda Bell finished Janay Harding with punches with 16 seconds left in their fight. In doing so, “The Lady Killer” picked up the second-latest finish in a women’s non-title fight and the fourth-latest in women’s divisional history.
BEATDOWN AFTER THE BELL: Bell has earned knockouts in each of her three Bellator wins, tying her with Budd and Blencowe for the most finishes in Bellator women’s featherweight history. She also is tied with those two for the most knockouts across all women’s divisions.
THE CAGE ADDS TEN POUNDS: Perrotta and Robert Gidron came in over their respective weight limits. After being fined 20 percent of their purses each, they both lost.
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into Bellator 233, John Salter (20 fights) and Anglickas (eight fights) had never gone the distance, Clements had never been finished (four fights) and Bennett, Chuck Campbell and Jimmy Lugo had never been defeated.
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