Former UFC fighter Corey Anderson and Irishman Karl Moore faced off for the undisputed Bellator light-heavyweight title in Moore’s hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland on Friday at Bellator Belfast.
After losing in his bid for two belts in Cage Warriors, Moore moved to Bellator and reeled off four straight wins at his usual weight of 205-lbs, earning him this title opportunity at the right time to headline in his birth city. In beating fellow UFC alumnus Phil Davis, Anderson bounced back from his duology with Vadim Nemkov, where he lost the second fight after being on his way to winning the first bout before an accidental foul resulted in a no-contest. With Nemkov vacating the belt to move up to heavyweight just as PFL bought Bellator, he too got his opportunity to fight for the belt, which he won on this third chance and became Bellator light-heavyweight champion.
When the bout began, Anderson immediately got to pressuring and putting his hands to work. The threat of the takedown helped him get an early lead in strikes, but Moore landed a few big shots that turned the tides and got the Irish faithful cheering two minutes into the first round. However the veteran turned those cheers to boos by taking down their countryman with a powerful shot. Anderson pinned Karl in half-guard for much of the rest of the round and landed short punches to secure a 10-9 on the scorecards in his favor for the first of five rounds.
Much of the second round involves Anderson holding Moore against the fence and attempting takedowns with little success. However, Moore had even less success getting offense off as his back was constantly scraping against the links of the cage.
The third round began with Anderson catching an ill-advised Karl Moore head-kick and taking down the Irishman. Moore almost finished the fight when he snatched an armbar and forced Corey to scramble out of it, but Anderson did just that and then settled back in Karl’s full-guard for most of the round. Moore got back up and got trapped in the clinch but broke free with seconds left and landed a few good strikes before the bell rang.
The championship rounds began with another early takedown from Anderson. He smushed Moore into the fence for half the round once more until Karl stood back up with the help of the fence. Little happened in the striking before Anderson got another takedown and the pattern repeated again until the round ended.
Anderson began the final round with a stunning right hand into a double leg. Moore tried to throw up subs from guard but with no success. Eventually he got back up and the pattern of the entire fight went around again. The only interesting moment of the round was the referee standing Corey up because he felt Anderson was using his head to strike Moore illegally from on top. Of course, after that he just clinched Karl again to stifle him for the rest of the fight.
The Irish crowd booed, loyal to the end despite the knowledge that their man had lost even before the scorecards were read, making Corey Anderson a champion of a major MMA promotion at long last.
Official Result: Corey Anderson def. Karl Moore by Unanimous Decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45)
