Fight Facts: Bellator 250

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 FIGHTS: 2,789
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR EVENTS: 252

Bellator MMA tried its best to crown another champ-champ at Bellator 250, but the former middleweight king regained his belt to reiterate that weight classes exist for a reason. This event lost its fair share of bouts, including more than one that fell through on fight day, and the results were mixed. Bellator 250 featured a nearly historically low number of finishes, a rare brabo choke to start off the night and an interesting five-round distinction for the new champ.

Here’s To (About) 250 More! Although called the 250th numbered Bellator card, this is event is actually Bellator’s 252nd—not counting the offshoot Bellator Monster Series—due to an event cancellation, multiple European Series events and a few early Bellator shows split up into two broadcasts from one night.

Slow Night at the Office: Bellator 250 featured only two stoppages in eight bouts. This is the second-lowest number of finishes at a single Bellator event, tying it with seven other cards among company history. Bellator 245 set the top mark with only one in September.

And the Judges Got One Wrong Too: When comparing finish rates, the 25 percent for this card sits tied with Bellators 25 and 83 for the fifth lowest in company history. Bellators 34, 115 and 167 all post lower rates of 22.2 percent, while Bellator 245 also holds the smallest at 12.5 percent.

Multi-Minute Mousasi: For the first time in his storied career, Gegard Mousasi won a fight that went five full rounds. Each of his previous 25-minute MMA bouts resulted in losses, but Mousasi captured a clear-cut decision over Douglas Lima to break that streak.

He Prefers Finishes: Although he has fought for many belts over the years across several organizations, Mousasi’s win over Lima is his first championship won in the championship rounds across 59 pro MMA matches.

Please Don’t Move to 205: Winning the belt back that he surrendered to Rafael Lovato Jr., Mousasi is the first two-time middleweight king in Bellator history.

Father Time Is Creeping Up: Each of Mousasi’s last three fights inside the Bellator cage has reached the judges. This is the first three-decision stretch for Mousasi, win or lose, in a career that began in 2003.

Susceptible to Being Big Brothered: Across his lengthy Bellator career dating back to 2011, the only way that Lima has lost has been by five-round decision. Ben Askren, Andrey Koreshkov, Rory MacDonald and now Mousasi have needed 25 full minutes to defeat him.

As Thick Around Its Girtz as a Perambulator: Dropping a split decision to Henry Corrales, Brandon Girtz suffered his eighth loss under the Bellator banner. This puts him alone with the fourth-most defeats in company history, trailing Georgi Karakhanyan and Derek Campos with nine each, and Saad Awad with 10. Girtz has posted wins over two of those three fighters.

Even Hercules Had an Off Night: A decision over Ty Gwerder advanced Dalton Rosta’s perfect young record to 4-0. “Hercules” made his MMA debut with Bellator in May 2019, and his prior wins all came by knockout.

En Sabah Nee: Sabah Homasi clobbered Bobby Voelker with a flying knee and follow-up punches, boosting his career stoppage rate to 80 percent. Eight of his last 10 victories have come inside the distance.

Welterwow: With the knockout coming in a 170-pound contest between Homasi and Voelker, welterweights are now responsible for more flying knee knockouts than any other Bellator division.

The Kid Counts: Adam Borics captured a decision over Erick Sanchez, and throughout his career, “The Kid” has recorded six wins by tapout, five on the scorecards and four more by knockout. Three of those submissions were triangle chokes while two came by rear-naked choke, and his lone win marked “other” is a disqualification in 2014.

I Am the Law! On the first fight of the card, Cody Law hit a brabo choke on Orlando Ortega in the first round, securing the first submission of its type in Bellator featherweight history. While Genair da Silva recorded one in a 2011 bout over Bryan Goldsby that was initially scheduled at 145 pounds, da Silva missed weight significantly to make it a catchweight contest.

I Fought the Law…: Law’s brabo choke is the first since Bellator London in 2019, when Akonne Wanliss put Tim Barnett to sleep with one in under a minute.

…And the Law Won: The newcomer Law is just the second fighter in Bellator history to start the evening off with a brabo choke, joining Frans Mlambo when he tapped Nathan Greyson at Bellator 223 in 2019.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into Bellator 250, Rosta (four fights) and Taylor Johnson (seven fights) had never gone the distance, Jake Hager had never fought beyond the three-minute mark (three fights) and Sanchez had never lost consecutive bouts (14 fights).