Adam Borics Outpoints Mads Burnell in Bellator 276 Headliner; Eyes Featherweight Title

A bit of fun from both @AdamBorics and @Burnellmma 😅

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Adam Borics entered Saturday’s Bellator 276 main event as one of the promotion’s best featherweight contenders; he’s now set to fight for the championship in his next outing.

Borics (18-1) stood toe-to-toe for virtually 25 minutes with Denmark’s Mads Burnell to win a unanimous decision in what was the best performance of his career. Borics landed dozens of thudding and stinging leg kicks and popped Burnell (16-4) with two- and three-punch combos. Burnell was ferocious with an endless assault of body punches and sizzling combos up top, but Borics landed the harder, more telling blows throughout.

Borics dropped Burnell with a slick right hook late in the second round, but even though he busted the Dane up and nearly closed his right eye, he was never close to putting his foe away. Burnell hurt “The Kid” to the body midway through the third, but in rounds four and especially five, Borics was able to nullify Burnell’s attacks.

The two traded leather down the stretch, but again, it was Borics’ combos to the head and cracking kicks to the legs that sealed the deal. In the end, two cageside judges favored Borics with scores of 49-46 while the third had it 50-45. After the fight, the Hungarian said his eyes are on the title, regardless of who prevails between champion A.J. McKee and former titles Patricio Freire at Bellator 277 next month.

Longtime veteran Phil Davis proved why he is Bellator’s No. 2 ranked light heavyweight with a dominant performance over Julius Anglickas. “Mr. Wonderful” spread out kicks to the legs and ribs behind swift jabs, but it was multiple takedowns and control from on top that paved the way toward a lopsided unanimous decision win.

Davis (24-6) took Anglickas down at least once in every round and threatened with an assortment of submissions. Anglickas (10-3) was able to fend off and escape each submission attempt, but he could do nothing to stop Davis, his strength and wrestling prowess. Davis won easily as he swept the official judges’ cards 30-27 for the unanimous nod.

Johnny Eblen was the superior middleweight when he locked horns with John Salter, nullifying the latter’s jiu-jitsu en route to a unanimous decision win. Eblen used an array or jabs and leg kicks to keep Salter (10-1) honest, and when he scored takedowns throughout the fight, his pressure and moderate ground-and-pound paved the way toward victory. Salter threatened with an armbar in the second, but he missed it; it was truly the only time Eblen was in any danger in the contest. All three cageside judges saw it 30-27 for Eblen, who improved to 19-5.

Lightweight contender Gadzhi Rabadanov landed scattered strikes and timely takedowns over the course of three grueling rounds against Jay-Jay Wilson to nab a unanimous decision win. Rabadanov (17-4-2) landed the more telling blows and whenever he took Wilson (8-1) down, he neutralized his offense and controlled the pace. Each round was close, but Rabadanov did more than enough secure the judges’ nod via tallies of 30-27 and 29-28 (twice).

Alex Polizzi somehow survived a brutal second-round assault to prevail in the third, anchoring the Bellator 276 prelims in one of the wildest fights of the year bar none. After Polizzi (10-1) rattled off dozens of punches from on top on the ground in the first, light heavyweight opponent Jose Augusto Azevedo Barros (7-4) delivered one of the cleanest knees to the face the MMA world will ever see moments into the second. The bomb would have knocked virtually anybody else out, but Polizzi inexplicably survived, though it wasn’t easy.

Polizzi’s equilibrium was shattered and Augusto immediately delivered an onslaught of punches. However, even with blood pouring from a cut on the face and nearly out on his feet, Polizzi warded off the knockout and wound up taking Augusto down. From there, Polizzi relied on pure instinct and delivered a heavy dose of punches, only to get rolled into an armbar. Augusto seemingly had the sub locked in, but Polizzi escaped and finished the round in full mount.

Polizzi stuffed a takedown attempt from a gassed Augusto early in the third, took his foe’s back and sunk in the rear-naked choke, ending the wild affair 49 seconds into the frame, punctuating a stellar preliminary card.

Romero Cotton improved to 6-0 with a first-round stoppage of Freddie Sandoval, a man who hadn’t fought MMA in a dozen years. Cotton missed a knee the face and wound up getting sucked into a heel hook attempt, but Sandoval failed at the submission and wound up getting pounded on by Cotton from punches on top. Sandoval (5-7-1) couldn’t defend himself or escape and bowed out at 1:39 of the first.

Flyweight prospect Diana Avsaragova remained patient for three rounds as she turned away the hard-charging and much shorter Kyra Batara with jabs and takedown defense. Batara (8-5) was relentless with a seemingly endless supply of punches, but virtually nothing she threw landed cleanly. Instead, Avsaragova (5-0) picked her apart with jabs and scattered low kicks en route to a lopsided unanimous decision win; she took the win with scores of 30-27 across the board.

Featherweight prospect Cody Law made quick work of James Adcock (7-5) as he flattened him with punches early. The two traded leather from the start, but Law (6-0) was too powerful and dropped his foe multiple times before finally knocking him cold. A left to the head floored Adcock, but once he popped back up, a sinister right hook to the jaw removed him from consciousness, ending the brawl in just 77 seconds.

Rising knockout artist Roman Faraldo continued his torrid streak by vanquishing Kelvin Rayford (5-3) in just 44 seconds. Farlado (6-0) dropped his welterweight opponent with a fierce left jab during a heated exchange and then closed the show with follow-up punches on the ground.

In the opening pro bout of the evening, bantamweight Jordan Howard improved to 10-5 with a second-round stoppage of Trevor Ward. Ward (5-6) missed a takedown attempt, wound up getting toppled against the cage and then ate a barrage of elbows until the ref stopped it at the 3:24 mark.