It wasn’t pretty, but Heather Hardy got her doubleheader against Ana Julaton off to a good start.
Extended clinch sessions didn’t help Julaton (2-4 MMA, 0-2 BMMA) on the scorecards, and judges rewarded Hardy’s (2-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) haphazard submission attempts and striking efforts with a unanimous decision.
The women’s flyweight bout was part of the main card of today’s Bellator 194 event at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. It aired on Paramount following prelims on MMAjunkie.
The final scorecards were 30-27 twice and 29-28 for Hardy, who got back to the win column after a stinging defeat in the follow-up to her successful Bellator debut. Julaton dropped her second straight bout with the Viacom-owned promotion and has lost four of her past five.
The two talked a good game going into the fight, and Hardy was motivated by an unexpected weight miss that cost her 20 percent of her purse. But for all her efforts to repay Julaton by using her face as a heavy bag, she was stymied by a smothering grappling attack.
Julaton used head control and underhooks to control Hardy for extended periods against the fence, and referee Kevin McDonald showed little interest in separating them. So Hardy went to work with her limited knowledge, attempting to choke her opponent after muscling her way to something resembling back control.
More often than not, Hardy initiated the offensive portions of the fight, though there were long periods of tactical stalemate as the two tried to figure out what to do in close. At several points, Hardy made faces as Julaton tried to jostle her around. The crowd was not as amused.
Finally in the third round, McDonald acted on the dearth of fighting and twice separated the two. Hardy found decent success with a right hand, though she was frequently out of position to do damage and wound up back in the clinch the more she let her hands go.
In the end, Hardy did what was needed to secure the victory. She’ll now head to a boxing match with Julaton, who like her is a former champion in the square circle. For her next walk to the cage, she’ll have more much-needed experience under her belt.
Up-to-the-minute Bellator 194 results include: