A sold out crowd of over 13,000 fans packed the Accor Arena tonight for BELLATOR’s third successful event in Paris, France. Several French fighters shined brightly for the partisan Parisian crowd, including Thibault Gouti (17-6), who scored an emphatic knock out over Kane Mousah (14-5) to start the main card off with a bang.
The main event saw a coming-of-age performance for Birmingham, England’s Fabian Edwards (12-2), who outclassed MMA icon Gegard Mousasi (49-9-2) en route to a unanimous decision victory (49-46, 49-46, 49-46).
NEXT STOP – DUBLIN: With his victory in the main event, Edwards has earned a title shot against undefeated Middleweight World Champion Johnny Eblen (13-0) in a bid to join his brother Leon Edwards World Champion. The two will clash in the main event of BELLATOR Dublin: Eblen vs. Edwards, which will take place at the 3Arena on Saturday, Sept. 23. More information on the event will be revealed in the coming days.
The co-main feature saw an incredible five-round back and forth battle between former BELLATOR Lightweight World Champion Brent Primus (11-3) and hometown favorite Mansour Barnaoui (20-5). After 25 minutes of elite level grappling, Primus earned the unanimous decision victory (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) and advances in the BELLATOR Lightweight World Grand Prix to face current World Champion Usman Nurmagomedov (17-0) in the semifinals on a date to be determined.
Former Welterweight World Champion Douglas Lima (33-11) had a successful debut at middleweight over Costello van Steenis (14-3) scoring 29-28 on all three judge’s scorecards.