Illustration by John Brannigan/Sherdog.com
It's been a long time coming for Corey Anderson.
Nearly a decade after appearing on “The Ultimate Fighter 19,” Anderson defeated Karl Moore by unanimous decision in the Bellator Belfast headliner last Friday to claim the vacant light heavyweight strap. and won a champion gold medal in a major promotion. While this is certainly a milestone accomplishment for “Overtime,” that performance itself wasn't enough to do anything other than maintain a No. 7 ranking in the latest 205-pound poll.
Meanwhile, Rose Namajunas earned her first flyweight win Saturday night with a five-round decision over Amanda Rivas at UFC on ESPN 53, the headliner of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. After losing to Manon Fiorotto in his 125-pound debut, “Thug” Rose defeated his Brazilian opponent to join him at No. 12 in the division rankings.
Elsewhere, Patricio Freire restored order to Bellator's featherweight division by defending his belt with a third-round technical knockout over Jeremy Kennedy in the co-main event of the Bellator Champions Series Belfast. This was a long-awaited win for “Pitbull,” who was looking to overcome a losing streak for the first time in his 2023 career. As a result, he maintained his No. 5 ranking at 145 pounds.
Fabian Edwards remained relevant in the middleweight division with a three-round decision over Aaron Jeffery in another high-profile bout at Bellator Belfast. Leon Edwards' younger brother didn't earn many style points with the win, but he remains No. 13 in the latest 185-pound rankings.
Finally, there were some significant moves in the atomweight division over the weekend. Most notably, in Sunday's Deep Jewels 44 main event, top-ranked Seika Izawa defeated Park Si Yoon in the second round to win her third championship belt. Meanwhile, 10th place Rena Kubota returned to the win column with a unanimous decision victory over Shim Yuri at RIZIN's “Landmark Vol.1”. Saturday 9 inches.
Note: Previous rankings are listed in parentheses.
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