Biggest winners from Bellator Birmingham

In an amazing weekend full of mixed martial arts action, Bellator Birmingham may have been the most exciting card. Let’s take a look at the biggest winners from this event.

Brent Primus

The former Bellator lightweight champion brought the partisan crowd at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom to silence as he finished Tim Wilde with the rarest of submissions. (watch the entire 1:20 fight below courtesy of Bellator MMA Twitter)

When Brent Primus defeated Michael Chandler at Bellator NYC in June of 2017 many fans thought the victory was a fluke due to the nature of the doctor stoppage. However, in the rematch, those same fans got to see Primus go a full 25 minutes with Chandler, much of which was competitive. And now he finishes a fight with the ultra-rare gogoplata.

With the victory, Primus improves to 9-1 (the only loss being in the Chandler rematch). While a title shot is not likely for Primus in his next outing, lightweight is one of Bellator’s deeper divisions so finding a suitable opponent should not be an issue.

Fabian Edwards

“The Assassin” Fabian Edwards was tested in a big way in Birmingham. But the 26-year-old middleweight persevered with a stunning turn of events.

Edwards literally went from having his back on the canvas with the hulking Falco Neto dropping bombs on him to up kicking his way to his feet and landing a straight left hand that sent the Portuguese fighter reeling to the mat.

The entire sequence of events was improbable. With the win, Edwards remains unbeaten (7-0) and will likely face a big step up in competition in his next fight.

Raymond Daniels

Raymond Daniels is well established as an elite kickboxing practitioner but the 39-year-old is just getting started in MMA.

Always the showman, Daniels finished the fight with an amazing 720 right hook. He then proceeded to walk away with his hands up as his opponent, Wilker Barros, crumpled to the canvas.

Though 2019 isn’t even halfway through, it will be hard to top Daniels incredible KO for Knock Out of the Year honors.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 5/5/2019.