Bellator 247 ‘Jackson vs Kielholtz’ recap

Jackson vs Kielholtz | Bellator MMA

MMA Mania brings you a post-fight recap, results, .gifs and interviews from another big show!

Bellator 247 “Daley vs. Anderson” took place Thursday, October 1, 2020 at Allianz Cloud in Milan, Italy. The main event was Kate Jackson (11-4-1) facing “Miss Dynamite” herself Denise Kielholtz (5-2) at Flyweight.

Kielholtz had the black trunks, black top and blue gloves for the featured fight.Jackson also sported black trunks and top but had on red gloves. Kielholtz weighed in at 123.4 pounds while Jackson weighed in at 125.6. The referee in charge of the contest was Dan Miragliotta.

Both women danced around each other for the first half minute feeling out the range. Kielholtz found the range, blasted her with a powerful left hand and Miragliotta waved it off just 43 seconds into round one. Kielholtz was on top of Jackson on the ground when he stepped in and may have landed ONE hand late. She was literally jumping for joy after the knockout win but then stopped to apologize for the unnecessary right hand. An interview with fellow Dutch fighter Marloes Coenen was next.

“Like I said I had planned together with my trainer and every time I step in this cage the plan works, like you see again. It was a little bit like this yeah. It feels amazing you know? We as women fighters are the main card in this big event. I’m so blessed to stand here with all the things going on in the world, and to be the main card sorry the main event is a dream. I’m still dreaming now. I’m just ready for everyone.”

A Middleweight co-main event featured Norbert Novenyi Jr. (5-0) vs. Laid Zerhouni (7-5). Zerhouni had the white trunks and blue gloves for his Bellator debut. The undefeated Novenyi had black trunks and red gloves on. Novenyi came in at 185.6 pounds for this fight while Zerhouni was under the weight limit at 182.6.

A tap of the gloves got things underway as Zerhouni immediately put the pressure on and dropped Novenyi with a left hand. Novenyi recovered and got a takedown, but had to take Zerhouni down again at 1:01 after an unsuccessful back take. Novenyi tried to cinch up an arm triangle choke but the cage fence got in his way. He pushed off the cage with his feet and ground some elbows into Zerhouni’s face. Zerhouni tried to get back up and Novenyi went for an anaconda choke. Zerhouni got free at 3:37 but Novenyi hit the elevator sweep to get right back on top. Novenyi went for the triangle choke next and got it at 4:36.

Marloes Coenen spoke with Novenyi about the fight and getting hurt early in the bout.

“I was an idiot. I shouldn’t get caught with shots like that. It is what it is. I was confident, I finished it, I’m not happy with it. I’m a perfectionist so I probably won’t be able to sleep for like a week now after that. I’m gonna learn from it. I’m sorry to Bellator too, not being able to put on a MASSIVE performance. I’ll be back. I want to be back soon because I’m not going to be able to sleep after this.”

In addition at Featherweight were SBG Ireland’s Brian Moore (12-7) and local Italian fighter Simone D’anna (7-2). D’Anna entered first with black/red trunks and blue gloves, a protege of local Italian favorite Alessio Sakara. Moore had the solid black trunks and red gloves, proudly wearing the Irish flag over his shoulders on his way to the cage.

Moore sprinted to the center for a glove tap. D’anna got tagged with a hard right hand at 54 seconds, but that was already 48 seconds longer than his last Bellator fight. Moore popped D’Anna’s head back with a left jab as he continued to work from range. D’Anna tries to change things up with kicks to Moore’s left leg. Moore clinched up at the three minute mark but D’Anna shoved him off a half minute later. D’Anna tried to take the back and drag Moore to the ground but only got him to a knee for a split second. Narrow 10-9 R1 to Moore.

D’Anna stung Moore with a combo 23 seconds into the second frame and knocked him down with an uppercut seven seconds later. Moore closed his guard to recover and tried to look for a submission, but D’Anna reared back for strikes and then jumped on top again.

Moore got back to his feet at 1:40. The action stalled against the cage there for 80 seconds until they went back to the center. Moore tagged D’Anna with an uppercut and rocked him with another one at 3:40. He was wobbly on his feet and when Moore knocked him down again at 3:55 referee Dan Miragliotta waved it off by KO.

Marloes Coenen stepped into the cage at the Allianz Cloud for a few words with Moore.

“Yeah I wasn’t switched on upstairs tonight at the start. A load of different opponent changes you know? And I should’ve just focused on myself and my game. I’m usually so sharp but I was a little bit lazy and he shifted beautifully. I have the biggest heart in the game. I could stand here and list out all the Bantamweights that I want to fight, or I could list all the ones that refuse to fight me. I had to jump up and fight at 145, so whoever.”

Chris Duncan (6-0) vs. Iamik Furtado (6-3) rounded out the main card. Furtado wore the blue gloves and black trunks for his second Bellator fight. Duncan was making his third Bellator appearance, wearing black with red gloves. Furtado weighed in 159 and Duncan 159.2 for this catch weight affair.

Duncan was the aggressor early although Furtado tried to keep him at range with leg kicks. Duncan walked through the pain and put Furtado on the cage. Furtado pushed off and eventually broke free a little over 90 seconds in. A left from Furtado caught Duncan’s attention and he responded with a spinning back kick. Duncan woke Furtado up with a couple hard rights to the head of his own. It was a close competitive first round that narrowly edged to Duncan as the man controlling where the fight took place.

Duncan got tagged under the eye by a kick from Furtado early in R2. His left continued to find the range. Duncan continued to attack with right hands and kicks to the right lead leg of Furtado. Furtado’s jab continue to opened up the cut under the right eye. Duncan closed the range for some hard elbows with two minutes left. Duncan dropped him with a big left hand at 3:58 for the win by knockout, improving to a perfect 7-0 in the process.

Marloes Coenen stepped into the Bellator cage to interview him afterward.

“Thank you. My mother passed away a few years ago and she’s the reason I do this. (Furtado) is a fantastic fighter, he’s very strong. I just said he’s a fantastic opponent and a great guy to face, a true opponent. I’ll have Kiefer Crosbie next by the way.”

Full results from the latest Bellator card in Milan can be found below.

Kate Jackson vs. Denise Kielholtz — Kielholtz KO 0:43 R1.
Norbert Novenyi Jr. vs. Laid Zerhouni — Novenyi sub (triangle choke) 4:36 R1.
Brian Moore vs. Simone D’anna — Moore KO 3:55 R2.
Chris Duncan vs. Iamik Furtado — Duncan KO 3:58 R2.
Mandy Bohm vs. Griet Eeckhout — Mandy Bohm UD 30-27 X3.
Lewis Long vs. Giovanni Melillo — Long sub (knee bar) 2:24 R1.

Kywan Gracie vs. Constantin Gnusariev — Gnusariev UD 30-27, 29-28 X2.
Jade Jorand vs. Monika Chochlikova — Chochlikova sub (scorpion rib crush) 3:50 R2.

Walter Gahadza vs. Uros Jurisic — Jurisic sub (rear naked choke) 3:07 R1.
Lee Chadwick vs. Ederson Macedo — Chadwick sub (arm triangle choke) 3:28 R2.
Blaine O’Driscoll vs. Salah Elkas — O’Driscoll sub (rear naked choke) 2:26 R1.

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