Having lost her last five MMA bouts, Australia’s Bec Rawlings (8-9) has been looking to get her MMA career back on track and managed to do so with a dominant decision win against Elina Kallinonidou (7-4) on the weekend at Bellator 240.
The bout took place at 3Arena in Dublin.
Rawlings stayed a step ahead of her 21-year-old Greek opponent with the opening stanza featuring an entertaining ground battle. As much as Kallionidou attempted to transition and lock in submissions, Rawlings largely remained in a superior position that included at one time back control.
Kallionidou started the second round aggressively and pushed Rawlings against the cage with a series of strikes. Rawlings found success within the clinch and secured a takedown to take the second round decisively, finishing it in mount.
In the final round, Kallionidou again flurried with aggressive strikes which were countered by a takedown. An armbar attempt gave Kallionidou the opportunity to get back to her feet and she continued to look for the knock-out strike as Rawlings began to tire. Rawlings did manage to drag her opponent down to the canvas again in the final portion of the fight to wrap up things in her favour.
The judges awarded the 31-year-old the victory, 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28. After a 3-0 run in Bareknuckle FC, Rawlings is now 1-1 since her return to MMA.
Kallionidou is now 0-4 within the Bellator promotion.
