Join us at Bloody Elbow for live results, play-by-play (main card) and stream (prelims) of Bellator 222: MacDonald vs. Gracie from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The headliner for the card is a welterweight world title fight between champion Rory MacDonald and challenger Neiman Gracie. This will also serve as the second semi-final for the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix, with the winner taking the title to the finals to meet Douglas Lima.
In the co-main event, veterans Lyoto Machida and Chael Sonnen will face off. Also featured on the card is a bantamweight title fight between Darrion Caldwell and Kyoji Horiguchi.
The prelims will be streamed live here on Bloody Elbow, starting at 6:30pm ET. The show will then move over to DAZN at 10pm ET for the main card. The show will not air on the Paramount network - if you don’t have DAZN, you don’t get to see some good fights.
Want a preview of the event? Check out the Vivisection right here.
Join us and let us know what you think of tonight’s fights.
Rory MacDonald vs. Neiman Gracie
Round 1 - Outside leg kick from Gracie. Rory trying to establish the jab. Lead left hook and a head kick from MacDonald. Gracie looks for a takedown but got denied. He’s pressuring with kicks though. Gracie wades into the clinch but Rory shucks him off pretty much immediately. Double jab from MacDonald. Rory slips on a clip but Gracie can’t take advantage. Slapping leg kick from Gracie. acDonald goes to the body. Nice right from Rory but Gracie fires back with a left. They trade jabs. MacDonald catches a kick and lands to the body. Gracie kicks the front leg again. Gracie catches a kick now, but nothing doing. 10-9 MacDonald.
Round 2 - Gracie with a leg kick. He scores an outside trip takedown. Impressive. Rory looks for a leg lock. He gets up but Gracie goes for his own leg lock. Kneebar. MacDonald rolls through and clears. Nice. Rory clinches and looks for knees. Gracie gets on a single. Rory fights off multiple takedown attempts. Gracie still has a body lock though. He finally gets off balance and Ror ends up on top in Gracie’s full guard. Gracie looking to get the rubber guard going. MacDonald is just leaning on him. Not much happening. Right over the top from The Canadian Psycho. Gracie tying up the arms. MacDonald is just content to ride out the round, it seems. Rory lands another big right and backs out. He jumps back in, but is again content to control position. 10-9 MacDonald.
Round 3 - MacDonald with a front kick. Overhand right hook scores for MacDonald. Rory is cutting corners. Spinning back kick from MacDonald misses. Gracie shoots but can’t get anywhere. Rory with the front headlock, and he throws Gracie to the floor. He’s in side. He stands up and dives back in with a big punch. Back in full closed guard now. After a while, Gracie scoots and almost secures a belly-down armbar! MacDonald deftly defends though and gets back on top with a couple of elbows. REnzo Gracie is giving Portuguese instructions from the corner. 10-9 MacDonald.
Round 4 - Not a lot happening early here. Gracie with a slapping right hook. Couple of jabs from Gracie. Rory jabbing too. He jumps in on a double and throws Rory around the cage, but can’t put him on the floor. He jumps on MacDonald’s back. Rory leans over and Gracie is up high now. Gracie deftly uses a body triangle to try and control position, and it actually works. Sort of. Rory powers through it though and ends up on top. They stall out on the floor. Few short rights from MacDonald. Gracie trying to get something going from the bottom but Rory is effortlessly defending. He stands up. He jumps onto Gracie’s back briefly. 10-9 MacDonald.
Round 5 - Leg kick from Gracie. He charges in for a takedown but didn’t set it up. Rory easily defends. Gracie perseveres and gets MacDonald to the floor. He’s in half. He slides to mount! 3:45 to go! It’s finally interesting. So far Gracie is just lying flat on him and trying to inch his body up higher. Halfway through the round. MacDonald almost bodies him off, but Gracie does well to maintain. Rory deftly slides a leg through and regains half guard. MacDonald is just holding on, and the crowd is restless, but he’s not in danger. Back to full guard. 30 seconds to go. Gracie falls back for an ankle lock but he doesn’t have it. Times up. 10-9 Gracie but 48-47 MacDonald.
Rory MacDonald defeated Neiman Gracie via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)
Lyoto Machida vs. Chael Sonnen
Round 1 - Chael pressing immediately and he dives in on a takedown. He can’t get it, but he’s battling in the clinch. They separate. Machida lands a body kick. Chael lands his own and clinches again. Sonnen almost hits a trip but he jumps onto Machida’s back. He spins around with a body lock, but Machida shucks him off. Sonnen is still on him though. Foot stomps. They stall out. Machida backs out and lands two hard body kicks. Jump knee and Sonnen goes down! Machida is all over him! Sonnen is holding on. Chael eventually got up but not a bunch happened after that. 10-9 Machida.
Round 2 - Big knee from Machida again immediately! The Dragon is all over him, and it’s over! Just like that
Lyoto Machida defeated Chael Sonnen via TKO (strikes), round 2
Round 1 - Danis dives on a leg immediately, but misses. Humphrey with a straight right. Danis gets him down with the second attempt. He’s on his back agains the cage. Danis squims to the side and lands a gew short shots. He takes the back and he’s laying on the leather. He gets up high, but Humphrey gives up the neck. Danis takes it, but he isn’t cinching it up. Seems like he wants to win with his fists. He lays out on his side. Humphrey has nothing for him. Humphrey is sort of defending but Danis is kind of just playing with him. Humphrey is trying to reverse but he’s eating hammerfists. He basically handed his arm to Danis and then tapped. That was uggs.
Dillon Danis defeated Max Humphrey via submission (armbar), 4:28 of round 1
Ricky Bandejas vs. Patrick Mix
Round 1 - Mix immediately gets in close and to the back. He jumps the back and acts as a human backpack. Body triangle. Mix drags Bandejas down, sinks the RNC, and...nighty night. Just like that.
Patrick Mix defeated Ricky Bandejas via submission (rear naked choke), 1:06 of round 1
Eduardo Dantas vs. Juan Archuleta
Round 1 - Not a lot happening early. Dantas drops his hands to get Archuleta to engage. He does not. The first real strike of the fight is a nut shot on Archuleta, but he gets back in there immediately. Archuleta double jabs and lands to the body. Spinning back fist out of nowhere land for Dantas. Archuleta looks to wrestle. He gets on Dantas’ back standing and lands a few knees to the back of the leg. Dantas is down to one leg. Not for long though. Still, Archuleta is bodying him and Dantas can’t get any space. Dantas separates and lands a knee. Spinning back kick misses. Two kicks land for Archuleta. 10-9 Archuleta.
Round 2 - Archuleta pressures right away. Dantas controls the clinch though, so Archuleta backs off. Front kick from Dantas. Not a lot going on. Archuleta lands a left that stuns Dantas! He manages to reset though. Archuleta presses as Dantas throws a knee that doesn’t land. Dantas is chasing. Archuleta lands a walkoff right hook KO right at the horn! Holy hell! Dantas threw a big kick against the cage and Archuleta slipped it, then threw a huge right hook that slept Dantas. That was awesome!
Juan Archuleta defeated Eduardo Dantas via KO (lethal right hook), 4:59 of round 2
Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Darrion Caldwell
Round 1 - Horiguchi is giving up some obvious size here. Slow start. Caldwell lands two slapping kicks, then they end up in close and Caldwell gets Horiguchi to the floor. Or at least to his back against the cage. Now Horiguchi is on his back. But not for long. Back to a seated position. Caldwell is landing some hard elbows. They’re stalled out here but Caldwell is maintaining position. Horiguchi is up in a seated position trying to land body shots. Caldwell turns him and lands a big right. The ref separates them because he saw Caldwell holding Horiguchi’s glove. They’re back upright but nothing happened before the end of the round. 10-9 Caldwell.
Round 2 - Not a lot going on for the first minute. They both seem tentative. Caldwell shoots and gets Horiguchi to his butt. Horiguchi is trying to punch from a seated position, but Caldwell is anging well and avoiding damage while maintaining position. The ref finally got sick of it and reset them, but there were only 25 seconds left in the round. Horiguchi lands to the body. 10-9 Caldwell.
Round 3 - Horiguchi tried to get loose and strike but got taken down again. After a while with Caldwell controlling, Horiguchi got up but was pretty much immediately planted on his back again. He’s trying to attack from his back but this is a wrestling clinic so far. Horiguchi is up. Knee! He’s defending the takedown now. Or he was. Caldwell is relentless. Back on his butt against the cage. 10-9 Caldwell.
Round 4 - Horiguchi lands a shot and immediately drops for a guillotine. Caldwell popped his head out though. Back to the seated position against the cage. Caldwell lands a hard elbow. The crowd is restless, but this is effective. Horiguchi can’t escape. Two minutes left. The ref stands them up with 90 second to go. Horiguchi lands a left. Leg kick. Caldwell sort of fell on an ankle but Horguchi pulled out. He lands a good shot. Not enough though. 10-9 Caldwell.
Round 5 - They both miss with kicks. Caldwell with an inside leg kick. Horiguchi scores with a left. Caldwell dives in and gets Horguchi to his ass against the cage. Again. It’s not fun. But it’s effective. Horiguchi is landing shots to the body. Caldwell is just holding onto his legs. Honestly, Horiguchi is doing much more here. He’s looking for a guillotine. He’s punching. Caldwell is just holding him down. This should be stood up. It should have been a while ago. Caldwell turns the corner and Horiguchi squirms away, but he gets taken down again immediately. I’ll give that to Kyoji, but it’s too late. The crowd is hostile at the lack of action. 10-9 Horiguchi, but 49-46 Caldwell.
HAHAHA!
Kyoji Horiguchi defeated Darrion Caldwell via unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46)
No idea how they came to that conclusion. But it’s funny!
Undercard (6:30pm ET)
Heather Hardy vs. Taylor Turner
Lindsey VanZandt vs. Rena Kubota
Valerie Loureda vs. Larkyn Dasch
Robson Gracie Jr. vs. Oscar Vera
Mike Kimbel vs. Sebastian Ruiz
Haim Gozali vs. Gustavo Wurlitzer
Marcus Surin vs. Nekruz Mirkhojaev
Brandon Medina vs. Brandon Polcare
Kastriot Xhema vs. Whitney Jean Francois
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