Fight Facts: Bellator 210 & Bellator 211

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and cage curiosities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR MMA FIGHTS: 2,211
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR MMA EVENTS: 211

Bellator 210

Returning once again to one of its favorite venues in Thackerville, Oklahoma, Bellator MMA on Friday brought an event to the Winstar World Casino that was truly stacked from top to bottom. Bellator 210 featured a fighter that has never gone the distance in 20 appearances, one of the winningest fighters in company history and an elusive anaconda sighting.

WHERE THE WIND COMES SWEEPIN’ DOWN THE PLAIN: Thackerville, Oklahoma, is now tied with Uncasville, Connecticut, for the most Bellator events (18) hosted by a single city. No other city has hosted more than 11.

OF ALL THE FLAVORS …: After submitting Chidi Njokuani in the first round, John Salter has still never gone the distance in his 20-fight career. The victory gave him his 13th first-round stoppage, while he has never lost a bout in Round 1.

OL’ FAITHFUL: David Rickels made his 21st Bellator appearance when he faced Guilherme Vasconcelos, the most in the promotion’s history. “The Caveman” made his debut for the organization at Bellator 40 in April 2011.

QUEST FOR FIRE: By beating Vasconcelos on the scorecards, Rickels earned his 14th win inside the Bellator cage, breaking a tie with three other fighters to take sole possession of the third-most wins in Bellator history.

WE’RE IN THE PIPE, FIVE BY FIVE: After losing by decision to Rickels in his fifth appearance with Bellator, all five of “Bomba’s” career losses have come by decision. On the winning side, he has exactly five victories by knockout and five by submission while never prevailing by decision.

YOU YOUNG THUNDERCATS: Jordan Young improved his undefeated record to 10-0 when he submitted Anthony Ruiz with a rear-naked choke. Eight of his 10 wins have come by submission in five different ways.

DANGER, WILL MORRISON: When Will Morris’ corner intervened to save its fighter between the first and second rounds, he became the seventh fighter to ever lose in the Bellator cage by corner stoppage. Every previous corner stoppage had taken place during or after the second round.

SMART IN THE LONG RUN: In verbally submitting to Shawn Bunch in the first round, Joe Warren became the eighth fighter in Bellator history to submit to punches.

THROWN TO THE WOLVES: Warren’s loss marked the seventh time he has suffered defeat inside the Bellator cage, tying him with Brian Rogers, Brylan Van Artsdalen, Patricky Freire, Rudy Bears and Saad Awad for the most losses in Bellator history.

HIDE Jennifer Lopez: By forcing Scott Futrell to tap to an anaconda choke, Mike Shipman became the first fighter in Bellator history to submit multiple fighters with that maneuver. Shipman previously submitted Dom Clark at Bellator 158 in 2016 with the choke. Overall, the anaconda choke has only been pulled off in Bellator seven times.

THE “JERSEY SCENE” WASN’T REAL: Rudy Schaffroth remained undefeated when he knocked out Vernon Lewis in the first round, bringing his record to 6-0 with one no-contest. All six of his wins have taken place in the first round. As a result, Schaffroth has spent less than 10 minutes inside the cage across his career.

RUN ON FOR A LONG TIME: Utilizing one of the most frequently used walkout songs over in the UFC, John Salter walked out to “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” by Johnny Cash -- and won.

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Bellator 211

In heading to Genoa, Italy, for the first time on Saturday, Bellator MMA brought a card it hoped would deliver for the hometown fans. Unfortunately for Italian faithful, home country fighters fared poorly at Bellator 211, although the card featured several stoppages in under a minute and one of the fastest knockouts in company history.

DID IT IN A MINUTE: Three of the seven fights at Bellator 211 ended in less than one minute, tying six other events for the second-most sub-minute stoppages at an event in promotional history. Only Bellator 123 has more with four.

BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME: Four Italian fighters competed against fighters from another country, and only one prevailed at Bellator 211. Giorgio Pietrini knocked out Nemanja Milakovic.

SUCKED ALL THE AIR OUT OF THE ARENA: After knocking out hometown fighter Alessio Sakara in 70 seconds, all 11 of Kent Kauppinen’s wins have ended via finish. He has only gone the distance once in his career.

GROUNDHOG EXPERT: In starching Ibrahim Mane in 12 seconds, Alen Amedovski picked up the ninth-fastest knockout in promotional history. It was also the second-fastest knockout in Bellator middleweight history, trailing only Shipman’s 10-second knockout of Carl Noon at Bellator 200 earlier this year.

ALEN ATTACK: Amedovski has now knocked out all eight of his career opponents within two rounds.

A WHOLE NEW WORLD: Kiefer Crosbie remained unbeaten at 5-0 when he defeated Orlando D’Ambrosio on the scorecards; it was his first fight to go the distance. Prior to Bellator 211, he had spent a total of 19 and a half minutes in the cage in his pro career.

VIVA ITALIA!: By finishing Milakovic with punches in 20 seconds, Pietrini earned the fourth-fastest knockout in Bellator welterweight history.

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: Coming into Bellator 210 and Bellator 211, Morris had never been defeated (four fights), Daniel Carey had never been knocked out (seven fights) and Mane had never been stopped (eight fights).

Jay Pettry is an attorney and a statistician. Writing about MMA since he started studying the “Eminem Curse” in 2012, and writing for Vice Sports and Combat Docket along the way, he put together many fight result and entrance music databases to better study the sport. You can find him on Twitter at @jaypettry.