Fight Facts: Bellator 291 ‘Amosov vs. Storley 2’

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: 3,268
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR EVENTS: 293

Bellator MMA returned to its overseas home away from home of Dublin for a jam-packed fight card built to please the local fans. Irish competitors largely proved successful during this marathon event, finishing well ahead of foreign adversaries at night’s end. Bellator 291 featured the pride of Ukraine representing his country brilliantly, a spoiler named “Seabass” and growing presence of a young Magomedsharipov.

There’s Way Too Many Ostriches: From start to finish, Bellator trotted out 18 different matchups across the lineup. This marks the highest number of MMA bouts on a card since before the pandemic, when Bellator 240 in February 2020 featured 19.

Why Are There So Many Ostriches? Of the 13 different Bellator shows that have put on 18 MMA fights or more on a given night, three have now taken place in Dublin – tying San Jose, California, for the most. Seven of those fight cards have gone down at non-American venues.

Their Parlay Was Still -359: Throughout the card, three different competitors clocked in as betting favorites of -1000 or higher: -1000 Kenny Mokhonoana, -1375 Khasan Magomedsharipov and -1200 Darragh Kelly. Only five Bellator events in the past have featured more than three competitors favored that highly, with the most recent at Bellator 284 in August 2022.

Biggest Fish: After five rounds of dominance, Yaroslav Amosov defeated Logan Storley for the second time to defend his 170-pound throne. A sparkling 27-0, he stands above every fighter competing in a major organization for the best current undefeated record.

Extremely Unified: The championship battle atop Bellator 291 came between champ Amosov and interim beltholder Storley. This unification match is just the fourth in Bellator history, with the first three coming in the light heavyweight, bantamweight and heavyweight divisions.

Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers for Everybody: Jeremy Kennedy needed three full rounds to defeat Pedro Carvalho. “The Game” has gone the distance in his last four fights, which is the longest span of fights without a finish in his 21-bout career.

Took the Crowd Right Out: In the final fight featuring an Irish-born competitor, South Dakota’s Bryce Logan flattened hometown favorite Peter Queally in Round 2. The knockout was Logan’s first since 2017, when he forced Will Shutt to call it quits.

Queasy Feeling: Queally started his pro career by going the distance in 15 consecutive outings. Since then, five of his last seven have ended by knockout, win or lose.

Like Brad Pickett’s Nickname: Claiming a contentious decision win over Janay Harding, Sinead Kavanagh exacted revenge for a past loss to the Aussie. “KO” has not performed a clean knockout since 2016, a span of 11 fights, although she has landed two technical knockouts along the way.

Harder for Harding: Harding’s record as a Bellator fighter fell to 3-5 following the loss to Kavanagh. Tying Arlene Blencowe, fellow Bellator 291 competitor Elina Kallionidou and Kavanagh herself with five defeats under the its banner, they all trail Alejandra Lara’s record of six.

SBG Matchmaking: The main card commenced with Ciaran Clarke taking home a decision win over Leonardo Sinis in front of a partisan crowd in his favor. The SBG Ireland product remains undefeated at 7-0, but he has reached the third round in six of his seven pro outings.

Seabass Kicked His: London’s Mike Shipman deflated the Irish faithful by claiming a decision against Charlie Ward. “Seabass” had only won by decision once before this appearance, which came in his last Bellator win in 2020.

He Thought He Won: After their 15-minute affair concluded, Oleg Popov was awarded the unanimous nod over Gokhan Saricam. Turkey’s Saricam saw his first seven pro MMA bouts end in 8:17 or less. Since then, he has heard the final bell in three straight.

One Swift Push: In a bizarre ending where a shove forced the stoppage against Andy Manzolo, Norbert Novenyi Jr. boosted his spotless record to 6-0 as a pro while technically performing his first knockout. The 23-year-old known as “Magic” has ended five of his six foes inside the distance.

Also Known as Dorval Jordan: Kelly dispatched Jordan Dorval in the third round as a huge favorite to earn his first-ever knockout. The Irishman has now performed one submission and one knockout, while pocketing his third win by decision, in his young pro career.

Cracked Him: France’s Asael Adjouj handed Liam McCracken his first pro loss by winning a decision. All three of the Brit’s past fights had concluded in the opening frame.

Younger Honest Zabe: Now a perfect 8-0 after destroying Rafael Hudson, Magomedsharipov earned his third victory as a Bellator fighter. The Russian has performed six stoppages across his eight wins, with five coming in the first round.

Whoo, Black Diamond: Mokhonoana battered Craig McIntosh with elbows and punches to procure the finish in Round 1. The Irish-based fighter nicknamed “Black Diamond” earned his first knockout while maintaining his flawless win percentage and finish rate of 100%.

Both Ukrainians Won: In his Bellator debut, Dmytrii Hrytsenko outhustled Daniele Scatizzi to earn a unanimous verdict. The young Ukrainian had kicked off his pro career with six straight finishes, while his last two walks to a cage have seen him need all three rounds to get his hand raised.

Ye Olde Hammer: The curtain jerker saw Steven Hill land a rear-naked choke on Joel Kouadja to get the night started. The Englishman sometimes called “The Hillbilly Hammer” is 7-0 as a professional, with an equal number of knockouts to submissions on his ledger (three apiece).

Never Say Never Again: Coming into Bellator 291, Saricam had never lost on the scorecards (nine fights), Dorval (four fights) and Hudson (10 fights) had never been knocked out and McCracken (three fights) had never been defeated.