The top of Friday’s Bellator 182 card featured a pair of welterweight fights that gave the fighters an opportunity to assert their positions in the pecking order for a future title shot.
In the main event, former champ Andrey Koreshkov (20-2 MMA, 11-2 BMMA) took out Chidi Njokuani (17-5 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) in the first round in his first fight since losing the title to Douglas Lima. But was it enough to jump the line over a name like Rory MacDonald?
In the co-main event, Fernando Gonzalez (27-14 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) shocked Brennan Ward (14-6 MMA, 9-6 BMMA) with a perfectly timed guillotine choke in the third round, taking him to 7-1 in the promotion with just a split-decision loss to Michael Page as a blemish on his Bellator resume. So where does he fit in now?
Bellator 182 took place Friday at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y. The main card aired on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie.
Also on the main card, Bruna Ellen (4-1) took a split decision from Veta Artaega (3-2), and A.J. McKee (9-0) kept his perfect record as a pro with a unanimous decision win over Blair Tugman (10-7)
For more on Bellator 182, including a full event recap, check out the MMA Events section of the site.
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