At Bellator 186 on Friday at Penn State, hot prospect Logan Storley looked to continue his undefeated streak and prove to the rabid PSU crowd in attendance why he’s worthy of the hype.
Storley entered the night with a perfect 6-0 record as a professional, having fought with both Legacy and Bellator. Standing in his way was Matt Secor, an Ultimate Fighter veteran who told Cageside Press in advance of the bout that “us mid-card guys are hungry!”
As the action kicked off, Logan Storley went right to work with the leg kicks, using his movement to evade Secor’s counters when the latter returned fire. Ducking under a Secor punch, he’d land a takedown roughly ninety seconds in and work from half guard before finding himself in Secor’s guard working to drop elbows. One of those opened Secor up, and Storley still had plenty of time to get down to business.
Secor would look to roll out of harm’s way and threaten to latch on to a leg, but Storley deftly avoided any real danger. Secor would then try to lure Storley back into his guard, but Storley was having none of it and instead shot a punch towards Secor and chopped at his legs before letting him back up – only to take him down again with a crash.
Storley went right back to work in round two, relying on his wrestling to get the job done. Secor was on his back from the outset and seemed to have little answer for Storley’s strong top control game. However, a ref standup would get him back in the game, and Secor managed to evade the next takedown attempt from Storley. That wouldn’t last, as a double leg felled Secor with two minutes still remaining in the second.
The story in round two quickly became Storley’s ability to evade Secor’s standup, change levels, and control where the fight took place. A couple of hard elbows towards the end of the round put an exclamation point on that, but the tough Secor would head into the third, no doubt knowing he needed a finish.
Round three saw a similar start: Storley with the takedown early, and Secor without any answer off his back. Storley stayed a little more active, throwing short punches to the body as Secor looked for any opportunity to escape. Finally, with Storley’s progress stalled, the ref stood them back up, where Secor went on the attack, even avoiding a Storley shot and trying to take the back while standing. None of it, however, turned successful. With a minute to go, Storley regained control, planted Matt Secor on his back once again, and rode out the round en route to a unanimous decision victory.
Logan Storley def. Matt Secor by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
