‘Patchy’ Mix Retains, Cedric Doumbe Entertains at Bellator Champions Series Paris (2024)

Patrick“Patchy” Mix’s claim as the best bantamweight in the world wastested on Friday after the BellatorMMA bantamweight champion was put through hell over five roundsagainst former foe MagomedMagomedov in the Bellator Champions Series Paris main event at Accor Arena.

Despite taking Magomedov out in two rounds in their first fight,the Russian challenger adapted to Mix’s length and hurt thechampion multiple times with overhand shots. Mix showed the heartof a champion and kept Magomedov on the backfoot despite being onwobbly legs and took the fight to the scorecards. After a longdeliberation, Mix was awarded the split decision win (46-49, 48-47,48-47) much to the ire of the Paris crowd.

Magomedov made wonderful adjustments from the first fight andconsistently caught Mix coming in. Unfortunately for thechallenger, his lack of pace allowed Mix to control the action andkeep him at bay.

Each round could’ve been a toss-up as both men made their casethroughout their techniques. Mix nearly snatched a guillotine inRound 3, but Magomedov survived and had Mix out on his feet. Mix(20-1) has options moving forward after his seventh straight win,but he will now look ahead to his engagement with UFC fighterTatianaSuarez, which was revealed Friday on the broadcast.

It was going to take a lot more than a splinter to stop CedricDoumbe on Friday. The French kickboxing phenom violently gotback on track with a first-round stoppage over JaleelWillis (3:33). With a bucket of bad blood propping up thefight, Doumbe gave the Paris crowd exactly what it wanted in thequick destruction of the Memphis native.

Doumbe (6-1) proved that he’s more than a striker by sprawlingseveral takedown attempts from the Kill Cliff FC prospect. Doumbe dropped Willis (16-6) with anoverhand right before making him look foolish with slick headmovement. Doumbe would close out the Bellator Paris co-main eventwith a right hand behind Willis’ ear that had him lost. Doumbeunloaded the finishing blows on Willis until referee Mike Beltranwas forced to intervene.

Post-fight, former UFC lightweight champion AnthonyPettis entered the cage and challenged Doumbe to a meeting backin Paris.

Costellovan Steenis picked up one of the biggest wins of his careerafter putting hometown hero GregoryBabene to sleep in the second round (2:16) with a Von Flue(shoulder) choke.

Van Steenis (15-3) snapped Babene’s eight-fight win streak inconvincing fashion after taking him to the mat in the first round.Babene’s looked to make Van Steenis pay with a triangle choke, butThe Spaniard’s ground-and-pound broke the grip. Van Steeniswouldn’t give Babene a chance to threaten in the second round. Withhis head trapped between Van Steenis’ shoulder and the cage whileattempting an ill-advised guillotine from side control, there wasnothing Babene could do except tap or go to sleep.

Featherweight contender Yves Landutook a four-fight win streak into his homecoming bout againstBrazil’s JonasBilharinho and didn’t disappoint the fans.

Landu dropped Bilharinho in the first frame with a wicked knee tothe body and nearly finished the fight. Bilharinho wouldn’t backdown and made it a scrap over the last two rounds. Landu looked forthe finish and nearly completed an armbar and a kimura attempt butBilharinho was full of escapes. After three back-and-forth rounds,Landu took the win by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27).

Former Big 12 wrestling champion ArchieColgan ragdolled ThibaultGouti en route to a lopsided unanimous decision win (30-27,30-26, 30-26) in their 158-pound catchweight bout. Colgan put thehostile crowd and the frustration of Gouti’s missing weight intothe first-round blitz that nearly took Gouti out of commission.

Colgan had Gouti on the edge of a TKO defeat but the Frenchman’stoughness extended the beating. Colgan’s win over the 24-fightveteran improved the Genesis Training Academy prospect’s record to 10-0.

SlimTrabelsi (7-0) remained undefeated in his heavyweight campaignafter cruising to a unanimous decision win over LouieSutherland (30-27, 30-27, 30-27). Sutherland entered the fightwith a 25-pound weight advantage, but he didn’t help him on theground against the heavy-handed Tunisian.

MansourBarnaoui halted his two-fight skid with an impressivefirst-round submission in front of hometown fans. Barnaoui snappedformer Rizin Fighting Federation vet YusukeYachi's head back with right hands before slamming him to themat in the final minute of the first round. With Yasuke fazed,Barnaoui snatched up a brabo choke that closed the show 4:08 intothe round. With the win, Barnaoui (21-6) picked up his 14th careersubmission and his first win since 2022.

MikeShipman battered and bullied Steven Hillinto his first career loss during their middleweight melee, but itwasn’t pretty. Shipman (16-4) clipped Hill with a low blow thenlost a point after landing an illegal grounded knee. Hill wasvisibly rocked but told Mike Beltran he wanted to continue. Shipmanhurt Hill again with a legal knee and nearly finished him beforethe bell. Hill (7-1) wisely chose to stay on his stool before thesecond round and Shipman was declared the winner by TKO.

AspenLadd bounced back from her loss against KaylaHarrison with an inspiring slugfest win against KaterinaShakalova. Shakalova’s youth and energy came through in thefirst round, but she quickly gassed against Ladd’s pressure.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran cut Shakalova open withan elbow in Round 2 before walking her down with shots in thethird. Shakalova didn’t wilt but her punches lacked the pop to keepLadd out of her chest. With the win, Ladd improved to 12-5, whileShakalova (8-2) took her first loss since 2019.

Marseille’s own AsaelAdjoudj opened the Bellator Paris card with a dominantsecond-round TKO (1:11) over formerly undefeated featherweightBrunoFontes (7-1). Unlike Fontes, Adjoudj (8-1) lost his undefeatedrecord in his first fight, but has since won eight straight.Adjoudj ragdolled Fontes in the first round before rolling him outwith a right hook early in the second.