Emanuel Newton Does it again at Bellator 106
For the second time in 2013, Emanuel Newton defeated Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal inside the Bellator cage. There wasn’t a spinning backfist knockout this time around, as King Mo had that properly defended this time around but in the end is was Emanuel Newton once again getting his hand raised.
With the interim light heavyweight title on the line in the Bellator 106 co-main event, King Mo brought a different game plan to the table. There was still plenty of spinning attempts by Newton but they were used more to keep King at distance.
King Mo took Newton down early and often in the opening round, something he did not do in their first meeting.Newton could not stop the takedowns to open the first but what he did was make his opponent work extremely hard for every takedown, which would begin to pay dividends in round two.
As the second round reached the midway point King Mo became a clock watcher and the takedowns virtually disappeared. With much of the explosiveness gone from his opponent Emanuel Newton began to dictated the fights range and pace. His strikes weren’t fight ending in power but they were landing to the head and mid-section with regularity and scoring points.
It wasn’t until the championship rounds that King Mo was able to get another takedown but Newton quickly returned to his feet and continued scoring points. Heading into the fifth and final round Newton appeared to be up on the unofficial scorecards and King Mo needed a finish to avenge his loss and become the interim champion. He did score a takedown but did nothing with it and Newton was once again able to get back to his feet and peck away from a distance.
After 25 minutes the fight went to the scorecards where all three judges gave Emanuel Newton rounds two through five for the 49 to 46 unanimous decision. Newton becomes the interim light heavyweight champion and will now face Attila Vegh to unify the belts.
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal said the spinning backfist knockout was a fluke and that he’d defeated Emanuel Newton 99 out of 100 times but I guess he meant to say 98 out of 100.
Bellator 106 took place at the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California and if you missed any of the night’s action here are the complete results.
Main Card:
155 lbs. Title Fight: Eddie Alvarez defeated Michael Chandler by Split Decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47)
205 lbs. Interim Title Fight: Emanuel Newton defeated Muhammed Lawal by Unanimous Decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)
145 lbs. Title Fight: Daniel Straus defeated Pat Curran by Unanimous Decision (49-45, 48-46, 48-46)
Fight Master Finals: Joe Riggs defeated Mike Bronzoulis by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Mike Richman defeated Akop Stepanyan by 1st rd. TKO (4:05)
Preliminary Card:
Cristiano Souza defeated Alejandro Garcia by 3rd rd. Rear-Naked Choke Submission (3:06)
Brandon Halsey defeated Hector Ramirez by 1st rd. TKO (0:52)
Mike Guymon defeated Aaron Miller by 2nd rd. Triangle Choke Submission (4:20)
Cleber Luciano defeated Joe Camacho by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Josh Smith defeated Darren Smith by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Jesse Juarez defeated Joe Williams by 1st rd. Guillotine Submission (0:57)
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