Bellator 287: Allianz Cloud Arena; Milan, Italy
When Scott Coker starts to put together the Bellator MMA lightweight tournament next year, there may very well be a surprising name in it. The mysterious Mansour Barnaoui in his Bellator debut and his first-fight in three-years and five-months smoked Adam Piccolotti.
Not in a Mike Tyson-esque knock out way though. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt took the Frenchman down immediately into his world. However, Piccolotti quickly found himself in a scramble and then getting beaten by ground-and-pound from the back.
Because of Barnaoui’s tall and lanky frame it gave “The Afro-Samurai” a bigger advantage. Add in a five-and-a-half inch reach advantage too. And the 30-year old Frenchman was off to work with Piccolotti stuck in a body triangle.
Piccolotti was able to scramble and hunt subs of his own but was unable to seriously lock anything in. In the next round he tried applying pressure again in the stand up. But once again he found his back being taken by Barnaoui. And with the body triangle locked in solidly this time, he went back and forth from striking to attempting a rear-naked choke. Until he was successful at 2:51 of the round.
He then said in French through his translator to BIG JOHN MCCARTHY:
“Everyone in the lightweight division, this is a warning”
The Mysterious Mansour Barnaoui Next Target
The former champion at every company he’s fought for might have to show the company President, Coker one more win first to be truly considered for the tournament. During fight week he chose not to get into why the absence or what he was doing. But by the looks of it, he was still very much training.
So the next target should be someone ranked and more dangerous. Although Peter Queally is on a two-fight losing streak, he is a dog who loves a scrap. And with Barnaoui’s only four-losses coming via decision, his next test should be can he handle someone that likes to bang.
Eventually he does want revenge on a certain group. He lost a controversial decision in Russia to now UFC champ Islam Makhachev. While that fight can’t happen, he has said he’d like some revenge against the team. And with Usman Nurmagomedov about to get his title shot, that would be his aim one way or another.
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