Last night, Bellator MMA touched down in the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut with Bellator 178. The card produced a handful of truly impressive finishes.
One of the more impressive finishes on the card was dealt by rising featherweight prospect, AJ McKee, who is the son of MMA veteran Antonio McKee. The younger McKee authored his win with a partially blocked, second round head kick. This thunderous kick, which occurred just 1:15 into the first round, sent his foe Dominic Mazzotta careening to the mat in an unconscious heap.
With this win, McKee moved to 8-0. The rising featherweight followed his epic knockout with a callout of fellow prospect James Gallagher.
In defeat, Mazzotta falls to 12-2 overall. His only other loss was a TKO dealt by reigning UFC bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt.
Bellator 178 also produced a memorable finish from flyweight prospect Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, who tapped Jessica Middleton with a beautiful armbar.
ALOHA FRIDAY! @ilimanator wins with deep arm bar and calls for flyweight title! #Bellator178 pic.twitter.com/49IJEDavRl
— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) April 22, 2017
Post-fight, MacFarlane made a call for a Bellator women’s flyweight title shot.
“I wanted to make a statement to Bellator and to the whole entire division that this is my division,” she said. “If you guys are gonna put the belt out there then I want in on that. I just wanted to put on a performance that proves I need to fight for the belt next fight.”
Finally, and most notably, Bellator 178 featured an impressive finish from Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, who tapped out featherweight champ Daniel Straus in the main event. Freire earned the tap with a guillotine choke in the second round. This bout marked Freire and Pitbull’s whopping fourth fight inside the Bellator cage.
.@PatricioPitbull recaptures featherweight title after thrilling fight with @DanielStraus! #Bellator178 pic.twitter.com/SefHR1ZhWb
— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) April 22, 2017
Which of these Bellator 178 finishes did you find most impressive? What did you think of AJ McKee’s crushing, head kick knockout win? Sound off in the comments section, PENN Nation!
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/22/2017.