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Chael Sonnen finally got Wanderlei Silva in the cage after a three-year wait. And he wasn't going to let him off the hook. The West Linn, Ore., native used his wrestling to get the best of the former PRIDE light heavyweight champion, capping an interesting and at times bizarre night of fights at Madison Square Garden in the main event of Bellator NYC.
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The show was the biggest event ever staged by Bellator MMA, the Viacom-backed promotion which has become a legitimate second horse in a race long dominated by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. And Sonnen (30-15-1), a longtime UFC headliner, won the battle of 40-year-olds via unanimous decision on scores of 30-26, 30-27, and 30-27.
"I came, I saw, and I kicked butt," said Sonnen, who was originally scheduled to fight Silva (35-13-1, 1 NC) in the UFC in 2014 before failed preflight drug tests left both competitors suspended.
The bout between heavyweight sluggers Matt Mitrione (12-5) of Springfield, Ill., and former PRIDE champion Fedor Emelianenko (37-4, 1 NC) of Russia had a wild moment. Both connected simultaneously with winging right hands and knocked each other to the mat early in the opening round.
But just as if you were wondering if there was a double knockout, Mitrione regained his bearings and pounded on his opponent, ending the fight via knockout in just 1:14.
"I remember thinking 'oh (expletive), I need to jump on him,' " said Mitrione, a former New York Giant who donned his jersey after the win.
The 40-year-old Emelianenko, who recently came out of a three-year retirement, had a five-fight win streak snapped.
The Bellator lightweight title fight between two-time champion Michael Chandler (16-4) of San Diego and Portland's Brent Primus (8-0) came to a bizarre finish.
Chandler tweaked his ankle in the bout's opening exchange, which only got worse as the bout went on. He still managed to drop Primus twice, but seconds after the second knockout, the bout was waved off on a TKO due to the injury, despite Chandler's insistence he could continue. Primus became champion at the 2:22 mark.
Chandler insisted he would have continued even if his foot fell off.
"Cut it off, cut this thing off," Chandler said. "I'll keep going. I didn't hear a word he said, I can't wait to get back in this cage."
The debut of the most-hyped MMA prospect in quite some time could scarcely have gone any worse. Aaron Pico (0-1), a 20-year-old freestyle wrestling prodigy from Whittier, Calif., was submitted in short order by Zach Freeman (9-2) of St. Joseph, Mo.
Pico, a seventh-generation descendent of Pio Pico, the final governor of Mexican California, walked into a huge right uppercut and then was submitted via D'Arce choke to end the lightweight bout in just 24 seconds.
"The power of belief in this life, anything can happen," said Primus. "But you have to believe."
Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima (29-6) made a point with his title defense against Lorenz Larkin (18-6, 1 NC) of Riverside, Calif. Lima, an Atlanta resident by way of Brazil, used his speed and footwork to stymy Larkin, a recent high-profile free-agent signing away from the UFC.
Lima nearly knocked out Larkin with a left hand that landed flush in the cheek in the second round. While Larkin survived, Lima cruised the rest of the way, earning a unanimous decision. The judges' scores were 50-45 and a pair of 48-47s for the champ.
"It's amazing to be fighting in such a big show and in my first trip to the Garden," Lima said. "It's such an honor for me to get the win over such a tough opponent in this arena.
The featured preliminary fight was a rematch of a bout first held in the UFC. Tempe, Ariz.'s Ryan Bader (23-5), making his Bellator debut, defeated Phil Davis (17-4, 1 NC) of San Diego via split decision back in 2015. He repeated the result Saturday and earned a title in the process.
Using his jab and scoring strategic takedowns in a cautiously paced fight, Bader earned the decision, taking a pair of 49-46 scores to a 48-47 in favor of Davis, to win Davis' light heavyweight title. It was Bader's third straight win and eighth in his past nine.
