Cris Cyborg remains the Bellator Women’s Featherweight Champion. Cyborg heavily dominated an extremely durable Arlene Blencowe over the course of 25 minutes at Bellator 279 in Honolulu, Hawaii, but she was not without drama.
The first round played out as a repeat of the 2020 clash between the two women, which Cyborg won via rear-naked choke in the second round. After hurting Blencowe in the feet, Cyborg took down the challenger and looked to take his back and choke once more. The submission in the first fight was the only submission win of Cyborg’s career.
A tactical error by the champion helped Blencowe get away with it, with Cyborg landing a knee to the head while Blencowe was technically a downed opponent. That led to a point deduction for Cyborg and somewhat blunted the dominant opening frame.
Blencowe proved to be tough and kept fighting even as Cyborg’s punishment was piling up. At the midpoint of the fight, Blencowe sported a sizable cut over his left eye that looked like a threat to force a stop to the fight. Instead, Blencowe managed to protect the cut and his corner did well to stifle the bleeding.
Cyborg peppered Blencowe’s lead leg with kicks and mixed in hard jabs and occasional kicks to the head to keep Blencowe guessing where the next punch would come from.
Despite the onslaught, Blencowe earned something of a moral victory, lasting until the final bell, where Cyborg was victorious by scores of 49-45 across the board, marking the fourth successful defense of his championship.
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Saturday’s card also kicked off the Bellator Bantamweight Grand Prix quarterfinals. Underdog Patchy Mix stunned Kyoji Horiguchi with immaculate back shots that earned him three rounds in a five-round competitive matchup. Also in the tournament, Raufeon Stots emerged as the new interim bantamweight champion after stopping Juan Archuleta with a wicked head kick.
CBS Sports was with you all night for the latest updates, highlights and results with our live blog below.
Bellator 279 card, results
- Chris Cyborg (c) def. Arlene Blencowe by unanimous decision (49-45, 49-45, 49-45)
- Raufeon Stots def. Juan Archlueta by knockout in the third round (kick to the head and punches)
- Justine Kish def. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Patched mix def. Kyoji Horiguchi by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
- Yancy Medeiros def. Emmanuel Sánchez by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)