April 23, 2022 12: 27 am ET
HONOLULU – For the veryfirst time in Bellator history, wild card bouts were in play for a grand prix, and they both took location Friday.
At Bellator 278, Danny Sabatello and Enrique Barzola advanced into the quarterfinal round of the competition with dominant triumphes at Neal S. Blaisdell .
Sabatello (12-1 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) contended veryfirst with a wrestling-based, ground-and-pound-heavy, uneven choice win over Jornel Lugo (8-1 MMA, 5-1 BMMA). There was no love lost coming into the match, as is generally the case with battles Sabatello takespart in.
Jornel Lugo and Danny Sabatello exchange some words after round 1️⃣ 🗣️
Tune into the opening bout of #BWGP NOW on SHOWTIME#Bellator278 @BellatorMMA pic.twitter.com/DYSSKFWjtb
— SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports) April 23, 2022
Relentless pacing and takedowns opened up the door for ground strikes from Sabatello as Lugo hadahardtime to escape. Lugo did simply enough to prevent a surface, however not enough to prevent 10-8 scorecards from the judges. Sabatello swept the scorecards with consentaneous 30-26s throughout the board.
The co-main occasion came next, as Barzola (18-5-1 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) beat Nikita Mikhailov (9-2 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) bymeansof consentaneous choice (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
A more competitive battle than the veryfirst wild card bout of the night, the contest was still mainly dominant, this time in favor of Barzola. Another wrestling-heavy attack, Barzola combined together all elements of his ground videogame to threaten submissions and keep manage.
At numerous points in the battle, Barzola appeared to have a deep submission locked, however Fedor E