Bellator 211: Kent Kauppinen finishes Alessio Sakara by first-round KO

Steven Muehlhausen

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Bellator 211: Kent Kauppinen finishes Alessio Sakara by first-round KO image

Kent Kauppinen appeared to be nothing more than a warm body for Alessio Sakara heading into the main event of Bellator 211. This marked Sakara's fifth fight in his native Italy, having gone 3-1 there prior to Saturday. He looked to post another stellar performance in front of his countrymen.

But Kauppinen had other ideas in mind, blasting Sakara with a left hook to win by KO at 1:10 of the first round at RDS Stadium in Genoa, Italy.

 

Kauppinen came out striking, including hard right hand that hurt Sakara.​ The 37-year-old was stalking Kauppinen to the point where the former pro boxer had his back to the cage. Sakara connected on a right to the body and Kauppinen went over the top to drop Sakara with a vicious right hand. Kauppinen hesitated as he thought referee Dan Miragliotta would have stopped the fight. Kauppinen blasted Sakara with two ground-and-pound punches and Miragliotta stepped in and stopped the fight to silence the Italian crowd.​ 

The victory snaps a two-fight losing streak for Kauppinen (11-4), who propelled himself as a serious contender in the light heavyweight division.

Co-Main Event

Domingos Barros def. Hesdy Gerges via TKO (punches) at 2:53 of the first round.

A very good showing from Barros. He didn't let Gerges get into a rhythm by immediately taking down the kickboxing veteran. Barros kept transitioning positions until he went from half guard to a mounted crucifix and then to full mount. From there, Barros unloaded a series of heavy strikes to force referee Todd Anderson to call the fight.

Main card results

Pedro Carvalho def. ​Luca Vitali by submission (guillotine choke) at 0:43 of the first round.

Alen Amedovski def. Ibrahim Mane via KO (punches) at 0:12 of the first round.

 

 

Kiefer Crosbie def. Orlando D’Ambrosio by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

 

Steven Muehlhausen

Steven Muehlhausen Photo

Steven Muehlhausen is a contributing writer for DAZN News. He writes features and news stories, and provides analysis relating to the world of boxing. Over the past five years, he has interviewed some of the biggest names in combat sports, including Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Terence Crawford, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Bill Goldberg.