Johnny Eblen delivers vicious third-round beatdown of Fabian Edwards at Bellator 299

Johnny Eblen just made his case for being the best middleweight in the world.

On Saturday night at the 3Arena in Dublin, Eblen defended his middleweight title against Fabian Edwards in the main event of Bellator 299, and though he had to battle through a little adversity, he came through in spades, finishing Edwards just 21 seconds into the third round.

In the first two rounds, Eblen took a slight lead over Edwards, mixing in high volume punches and kicks on the feet with repeated takedown attempts. Edwards was equal to the task though for much of it, defending the takedowns and landing some nasty shots in the clinch, including an elbow that opened a wide cut over Eblen’s right eye. That cut looked like it could prove dangerous for Eblen as the fight continued, but the middleweight champion made it a non-issue, flooring Edwards with a right hook and then finishing the fight with vicious ground-and-pound from the top position.

The win moves Eblen to 14-0 in his professional career, and with the recent shakeup to the UFC’s middleweight division, could launch Eblen to the top of the MMA Fighting Global rankings.

In the co-main event, Aaron Pico proved that all his enormous hype is well-founded as he demolished Pedro Carvalho in the very first round. Pico was on Carvalho from the very start of the fight, dropping the former featherweight title challenger multiple times, before finishing him with punches from the guard. The win moves Pico to 12-4 in his Bellator career and should have the 27-year-old on the cusp of a title shot.

In the main card women’s featherweight bout, Sara Collins kept her undefeated record intact, winning a split decision over Sinead Kavanagh in a closely contested matchup that didn’t see either woman really stand out.

In a features featherweight fight on the main card, Mads Burnell took a unanimous decision win over Daniel Weichel. Weichel simply didn’t have an answer for the pressure and the combinations Burnell deployed over the course of 15 minutes. After the bout, Weichel laid his gloves down in the cage and retired from the sport, ending his 57-fight career. He retires with a record of 42-15.

In the main card opener, Levan Chokheli delivered a Knockout of the Year contender, sleeping Sabah Homasi with a vicious front kick in the very first round. The win is Chokheli’s third in a row and could put him in line for a bigger name his next time out.

Check out the full Bellator 299 results below.

• Johnny Eblen def. Fabian Edwards via KO (punches and elbows) — 0:21, Round 3.
• Aaron Pico def. Pedro Carvalho via TKO (punches) — 3:05, Round 1. (Watch finish)
• Sara Collins def. Sinead Kavanagh via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
• Mads Burnell def. Daniel Weichel via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).
• Levan Chokheli def. Sabah Homasi via KO (front kick) — 1:51, Round 1. (Watch finish)
• Peter Queally and Daniele Miceli ends at 0:26 as a No-Contest (eye injury).
• Jay Jay Wilson def. Mansour Barnaoui via unanimous decision (29-28 x3).
• Gregory Babene def. Charlie Ward via submission (guillotine choke) — 1:03, Round 1.
• Ciaran Clarke def. Przemyslaw Gorny via submission (arm-triangle choke) — 2:52, Round 2.
• Luca Poclit def. Roman Faraldo via submission (D’Arce choke) — 2:18, Round 1.
• Khasan Magomedsharipov def. Piotr Niedzielski via submission (arm-triangle choke) — 3:58, Round 2.
• Darragh Kelly def. Jelle Zeegers via TKO (punches) — 3:42, Round 3.
• Otto Rodrigues def. Brian Moore via submission (arm-triangle choke) — 1:31, Round 2.
• Attila Korkmaz def. Davy Gallon via TKO (punches) — 0:23, Round 3.
• Asael Adjoudj def. Ibrahim Al-Faqih Hassan via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).
• Josh O’Connor def. Kenny Mokhonoana via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26).
• Romain Debienne def. Nicolo Solli via TKO(punches) — 0:39, Round 1.
• Sergey Bilostenniy def. Kasim Aras via TKO (wheel kick and punches) — 2:33, Round 1.
• Mark Ewen def. Noah Gugnon via TKO (punches) — 3:51, Round 2.
• Mackenzie Stiller def. Chiara Penco via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)