Bellator 161 landed in Cedar Park, Texas on Friday night, and the card was capped off with a heavyweight affair.
In the end, Cheick Kongo picked up his third win in a row in the Bellator cage, grabbing a majority decision over Tony Johnson in the evening’s featured bout at the HEB Center.
Judges scored the bout 28-28, 29-28 and 29-28.
Kongo effectively used the clinch, hitting Johnson with short strikes throughout the fight utilizing the takedown to enforce ground and pound. Although he was dominated by Johnson in the second round, Kongo made it through the frame, bounced back in the third and picked up the decision for his 25th career win.
In the co-main event, Joe Warren finished off Sirwan Kakai to get back in the win column as he looked to recover from a loss to Darrion Caldwell at Bellator 151.
Despite dealing with some trouble early, Warren worked for submissions and found one in the third. After Warren landed a solid knee, Kakai shot in for a takedown. From there, Warren transitioned to apply the neck crank and pick up the win at 1:04 of Round 3.
Earlier main-card winners included Anastasia Yankova and Derek Campos. Yankova picked up a split decision over Veta Arteaga and Campos earned a unanimous nod over Djamil Chan.
