Miami—In a major upset, Luis “Baboon” Palomino defeated Bellator Fighting Championships veteran Jorge Masvidal by split decision, while the Gamebred’s American Top Team teammate, Hector Lombard, was victorious against Joey Gorczynski. Lombard, a Cuban judo national champion, emerged victorious despite a lackluster effort at G-Force Fights “Bad Blood 3” at the American Airlines Arena Thursday.
In other results, backyard brawler turned professional fighter, Rene “Level” Martinez remained undefeated, beating Christian Pacheco in a unanimous decision.
However, the surprise of the night came from Palomino, who took it to Masvidal early in the first round of the night’s co-main event landing several kicks on his opponent, who patiently waited for the perfect moment to land a vicious blow. But the waiting didn’t payoff, as Palomino, who sported his bright red hair, followed with more kicks and punches, but did little damage to Masvidal. However, Masvidal had his moment when he struck Palomino with a right knee in the clinch just before time was up. The hit rocked Palomino. Both fighters walked to their corner with Masvidal smirking at his prey.
Masvidal has posted back-to-back victories since he was a victim of a nasty and rare inverted triangle submission by Tony Imada last year in the Bellator Fighting Championships. Masvidal looked to carry momentum into this bout. He opened the second round by connecting a jab, but Palomino didn’t quit and answered with a right hook and a series of kicks.
The opening of the third round started with several kicks that made contact with Masvidal. Yet, that was as much action the round had. The crowd booed and asked for action. The referee eventually separated both fighters, who were in the clinch. Masvidal later went for a single leg take down, where he worked from half guard and landed fists. But the blows did get the attention of the judges’ who awarded the match to Palomino. As the winner was announced, Masvidal walked out of the cage nodding, while Palomino celebrated with a back flip.
“He knows he didn’t win,” said Masvidal in a backstage interview.
Meanwhile, Bellator middleweight title holder, Lombard, didn’t please the fans at the triple A with his performance and was surprised by Gorczynski’s courage. Throughout the match, Lombard landed vicious blows especially to the ribs, but did little damage to the Oklahoma-based fighter. In the third round, Lombard was caught off guard when his opponent connected with a kick-right hook combo that sent the 32-year-old fighter to the canvas. The champ quickly got control of the bout and landed elbows and punches to his opponent’s ribs, while in referee’s position.
The judges’ awarded the fight to the fan favorite by unanimous decision. Lombard hasn’t lost since November 26 against Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi.
In other bouts, the crowd was hyped to see hometown hero, Martinez, who looked for a knockout early in the first round, but Pacheco came to fight as he landed low kicks. Eventually, the fight spilled to the ground as Martinez held on to a tight guillotine, but Pacheco managed to get away and applied his own towards the end on the first round. Flash forward to the final round, both fighters circled the cage, but was later taken to the ground where Martinez sought ground and pound, but the action wasn’t enough to put his opponent to rest. The fierce Martinez defeated Pacheco by unanimous decision.
Other results included former WEC veteran Jonathan Brookins defeating Yosdenis Cedeno; Felix Lopez defeated Manny Reyes Jr. by Unanimous Decision; Alex Caceres defeated Jahmal Mclennan by TKO (Punches in R3 at 2:48; Chris Silva defeated David Brown by unanimous decision; Mario Vargas defeated Andres Rybacki by split decision and Danny Chaves defeated Nelson Lopez by unanimous decision.
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