On Friday evening, former UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson made his Bellator MMA debut and unfortunately for “Smooth” Henderson, he didn’t leave the Bellator cage with the gold.
Henderson was dominated by Bellator Welterweight Champion Andrei Koreshkov in the five round main event of the evening, which was for Koreshkov’s Bellator 170-pound title.
In the opening round, Koreshkov dropped Henderson with a flying knee and nearly finished the former UFC 155-pound champion who went 2-0 in the UFC’s 170-pound division in his last two fights. Henderson was also dropped with a brutal right hand from Koreshkov in the fourth round.
Koreshkov would go on to not only win every round of the fight, but he arguably scored two or more 10-8 rounds en route to an impressive unanimous decision victory to retain his Bellator Welterweight Championship, even though the official judges may not have agreed.
While almost everyone would score the first and fourth rounds 10-8 in favor of Koreshkov, the actual judges for the fight scores the rounds 10-9 for Koreshkov, as the final cards had Koreshkov winning with a 50-45 clean sweep, meaning he won each round with 10-9 scores on each of the three judges cards.
In other action, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire tapped out Henry Corrales with a guillotine choke in the second round of the co-main event, while fan-favorite Michael “Venom” Page picked up another impressive first-round victory by submitting Jeremie Holloway with a toe hold. Brent Primus beat Gleristone Santos via split decision and Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos beat Brennan Ward via verbal submission with a heel hook in just 30 seconds in the other two main card bouts.
Below are complete Bellator 153 results from Friday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The main card of the event aired live on Spike TV.
Bellator 153 Main Card
Andrey Koreshkov def. Benson Henderson via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) to retain the Bellator Welterweight Championship
Patricio “Pitbull” Freire def. Henry Corrales via submission (guillotine choke) at 4:09 of round 2
Evangelista Santos def. Brennan Ward via verbal submission (heel hook) at 0:30 of round 1
Brent Primus def. Gleristone Santos via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Michael Venom Page def. Jeremie Holloway via submission (toe hold) at 2:15 of round 1
Bellator 153 Preliminary Card Results
Mike Zichelle def. Joe Cronin via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:25 of round 1
Chris Honeycutt def. Matt Secor via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-27, 30-27)
Djamil Chan def. Richard Patishnock via KO (strike) at 3:09 of round 1
