3 years ago
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England's Michael 'Venom' Page gained revenge over the only man to have defeated him as he outpointed former three-time welterweight champion Douglas Lima at Bellator 267 in London.
Page, 34, knocked down Lima, 33, three times at Wembley Arena, but was dropped once himself as he edged a split decision on the judges scorecards after three tense rounds.
"I wanted a finish, but Lima is a tough man," said Page, who is known as MVP by his fans. "I have got my redemption, now I want that bling."
While Page had the edge in the striking exchanges, he was unable to prevent Lima from taking him to the mat twice during the fight.
But, once the action hit the canvas, Page used expert wrist control to prevent Lima from consistently connecting with ground strikes as he frustrated the Brazilian on the mat.
Lima started to close the distance on the elusive Page in the final round of the bout, and dropped the Brit with a solid left hand.
But Page recovered well and, despite being taken down in the closing stages, the Londoner was able to stay out of trouble and secure the nod from two of the cageside judges.
The first score announced awarded the fight to Lima, as the London fans waited nervously for the second two scores.
When they both scored the bout for Lima, Wembley Arena erupted, before Page called for a title fight against undefeated Ukrainian world champion Yaroslav Amosov.
McCourt boxes her way to decision win
Northern Ireland's Leah McCourt picked up her fifth straight win inside the Bellator cage with a unanimous decision victory over America's Jessica Borga.
McCourt, 29, had to be on her guard after taking her opponent to the mat, as Borga attacked off her back in search of a submission in the opening round.
But after managing to escape her opponent's Kimura attempt, McCourt proceeded to dominate the fight as she showcased her boxing skills to jab and move her way all the way to the scorecards.
The judges rewarded McCourt for her striking skills as she claimed the sixth win of her MMA career with scores of 30-27, 29-28, 29-28.
Trainer claims crowd-pleasing win
It was a big night for undefeated light-heavyweight prospect Luke Trainer, who extended his perfect record to 5-0 with a second-round TKO of Yannick Bahati.
Trainer, 25, started confidently and dominated Bahati, 31, on the canvas after securing an early takedown.
'The Gent' then came close to scoring a finish in the closing seconds of the round after finding his mark with a heavy combination against the cage.
The pair battled back and forth through round two, with a spinning backfist from Bahati drawing gasps from the crowd.
But it was Trainer who had the advantage in the striking exchanges and, after connecting with a solid push kick, the Stevenage native pushed his man back against the cage and secured the finish with an elbow to the left eye that forced referee Mike Beltran to step in and end the bout at the two-minute 50-second mark.
Wilde tames Landu to claim decision win
The opening bout on the main card saw Wolverhampton lightweight Tim Wilde claim a unanimous decision win over France's Yves Landu.
Wilde, 34, kept the Parisian at bay as he pushed the pace and forced Landu, 35, onto the back foot.
After three back-and-forth rounds, the judges were in agreement, with all three awarding the fight to the Englishman 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, as Wilde claimed the 14th win of his career.
It wasn't as happy a night for Scotland's Robert Whiteford and England's Andrew Fisher, whose featherweight bout was ruled a no contest after an accidental eye poke from Fisher, 36, rendered Whiteford, 38 unable to continue.
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