Replay! Watch Gracie Retire Fitch With A Heel Hook

Normally the winner of the fight is the focus, but in Gracie vs. Fitch it was an entirely different story …

Bellator 246: “Archuleta vs. Mix” took place Sept. 12, 2020, at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The main event was booked to fill a hole at Bantamweight by having Patrick Mix (13-0) and “The Spaniard” Juan Archuleta (24-2) meet. They were the top contenders of a weight class with no champion after Kyoji Horiguchi vacated the title.

Mix and Archuleta weren’t the only men with history at stake. Long-time mixed martial arts (MMA) veteran Jon Fitch (32-7-2, 1 NC) came within a hair’s breadth of becoming Welterweight champion at Bellator 220, but had to settle for a draw instead. While getting back to a title match was undoubtedly a concern, Fitch had vowed he was ready to retire the next time he lost.

Neiman Gracie (9-1) made sure he wouldn’t have to wait long to ride off into the sunset. His only loss to date came against Rory MacDonald, the same man Fitch went to a draw with, so on paper it might have seemed like Fitch had the advantage. Gracie took down the long-time MMA veteran and caught him with an inverted heel hook he couldn’t escape even with short time left in round two, leading to a submission at 4:47 and the post-fight retirement.

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