Bellator 248 Results: Kongo vs. Johnson 2

Bellator 248 took place on October 10, 2020, at the Accor Arena in Paris, France. Michael Page defeated Ross Houston by unanimous decision in a 175-pound catchweight main event. Oliver Enkamp, Alan Omer and Mads Burnell finished their opponents on the four-fight card as Bellator made its French debut.

Page and Houston competed at a 175-pound catchweight, rather than middleweight. Page won on scores of 29–28, 30–27 and 30–27, giving Houston his first professional defeat. The fight extended across three rounds, with Page taking the decision instead of producing one of his familiar highlight-reel knockouts.

The fight started with Houston putting up a strong fight against Page. In the opening round, a caught kick saw Page dumped on his back, forcing him to fight from a position he didn’t want to be in. However, Page proved to have refined his game and was far from lost in the grappling departments. The final round saw Houston crawl into a shell of inactivity, almost content to go the distance while working from the clinch.

Houston made his Bellator debut after competing in Cage Warriors. Page’s victory added another successful result to his welterweight career, although the bout itself had no title at stake. Its catchweight agreement also distinguished it from a standard 170-pound welterweight contest.

Other notable fights on the card included a lightweight bout between Ryan Scope and Alan Omer, and a featherweight bout between Mads Burnell and Darko Banovic. Omer won his fight against Scope via first-round TKO, while Burnell defeated Banovic via TKO in the first round.

Enkamp submitted Emmanuel Dawa with a Japanese necktie at 4:10 of round one. Omer stopped Ryan Scope at 1:46 of the first round, and Burnell stopped Darko Banovic at 3:13. Three early finishes therefore supported a main event that required the judges.

Why the Event Mattered

The Paris visit was an important step for Bellator in a newly regulated MMA market. The four-fight Bellator 248 presentation formed part of a larger evening that also included a separate Bellator Paris card. Keeping those presentations distinct avoids merging Page’s headline bout with the other show’s results.

Sources

Combat Press: Bellator 248 results; Sherdog: Paris event record.

Article Tags

Bellator, Bellator 248, Mixed Martial Arts