On Friday night, Emanuel Newton showed the heart of a champion at Bellator 130.
Despite losing the first two rounds of the fight, the light heavyweight champion managed to lock in a tight chokehold at 47 seconds of the fifth round to retain his belt over Linton Vassell in a highly entertaining match-up that included non-stop takedowns, attemption submissions by both men and some of the best MMA escapes we have seen this year.
Newton seemed to launch a comeback in rounds three and four of the fight and the contest seemed knotted at two rounds a piece heading into the final round.
“I’ve been there before,” said Newton about the championship rounds. “I knew if we went into the deep waters my cardio would prevail, and I’d get the victory.”
In the co-main event Bobby “The Destroyer” Lashley (12-2), the TNA pro wrestling star, took only 1:31 to end Karl Etherington’s perfect record.
The beginning of the end came when Etherington attempted a judo hip toss, slipped and fell. Lashley pounced on his opportunity and started striking his opponent until the British fighter was forced to tap out. It was a bit of a role reversal for Etherington as he had entered the fight with nine consecutive first-round stoppage wins.
“That’s what this sport is about,” said the 38-year-old Lashley, who was TNA’s world champion in pro wrestling until a few weeks ago, but that’s supposed to be a secret since the match where he lost the title hasn’t been aired yet. “You don’t want to stay too long because you risk the chance of getting hit back. As soon as I had that opportunity, I went a little nuts.”
In other results, women’s featherweight contenders Marloes Coenen (22-6) beat Annalisa Bucci (7-4) for the majority of their contest until she finally submitted her opponent in the third round with a choke at :57.
Dave Jansen (20-2) used kicks to take a 29-28, 30-27, 30-27 decision over former judo Olympian Rick Hawn (18-4) in a lightweight bout.
