UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Bellator’s bantamweight grand prix final is set, but it wasn’t without a little controversy.
Danny Sabatello (13-2 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) was less than thrilled with his split decision loss to interim champion Raufeon Stots (19-1 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) in the Bellator 289 main event Friday. The one scorecard in Sabatello’s favor read 50-45 – a shutout. But the other two were 48-47s for Stots.
Sabatello had more than 10 minutes of ground control time in the fight. But it was Stots who is moving on to a matchup with Friday’s other semifinal winner, Patchy Mix (17-1 MMA, 6-1 BMMA), who choked out Magomed Magomedov (19-3 MMA, 3-2 BMMA).
“It’s tough being a judge. The 50-45, I don’t know where that came from,” Coker told MMA Junkie. “To me, it could’ve went either way. But Stots is moving forward in our tournament, fighting Patchy Mix, which is going to be an unbelievable fight. … We’re going to have a great finals.”
The Stots-Mix winner will get a $1 million check and will have the interim bantamweight belt. From there, a title unification fight awaits with champ Sergio Pettis, who is out rehabbing after a major knee surgery.
Coker said he hopes Bellator can wrap up the bantamweight grand prix pretty quickly into the start of 2023.
“We’re going to have to see who’s injured, who’s not injured, and that’s going to determine when they fight,” Coker said. “We want them to be healthy, fresh and ready to go and not just training through injuries or having to cut weight too quick from this fight.
“We’re going to talk to all the managers Monday and see how everybody’s feeling and then we’ll decide when we throw that fight. Our goal is to get that fight done in the first quarter if we can.”
Check out Coker’s full post-event interview in the video above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 289.
