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Whoever walks out of tonight’s Bellator 236 main event as flyweight world champion won’t have to look far for her next challenger.
Colombia’s Alejandra Lara made up for a last-minute cancellation of the Bellator 235 main event with a beat down of Veta Arteaga that had all branches of military in attendance on their feet Friday night at Blaisdell Arena.
In an event open only to military personnel, Lara, who was submitted by current titleholder Ilima-Lei Macfarlane in a fight 18 months ago, showed off a completely different version of herself in a unanimous decision over Arteaga that was scored 30-26 by all three judges.
>> PHOTOS: Weigh-ins for Bellator 235 and 236 in Honolulu
Lara was quick, powerful and relentless in her attack of Arteaga. She ended the fight by opening up a nasty cut on Arteaga’s forehead similar to the one she suffered against Macfarlane eight months ago.
“This is what I’ve been working for,” Lara said. “I was expecting a war and (this fight) was it.”
Macfarlane was a common opponent of both fighters. Arteaga was up on the scorecards in the third round before getting TKO’d, while Lara was overwhelmed by Macfarlane before being submitted in the third.
Just 25 years old entering the cage on Friday night, Lara said she’s much improved from her first fight against Macfarlane.
“I feel like a completely different fighter,” Lara said. “I didn’t have experience — was my second fight. We decided to take the fight because it’s an opportunity that we didn’t know if it would happen again.”
Lara attacked Arteaga from the opening bell and overwhelmed her opponent throughout the fight.
She took the second round when she dropped Arteaga with a left head kick.
Her pressure didn’t waver over the final five minutes, and despite eating quite a few counter right hands from Arteaga, she managed to finish the fight strong, as Arteaga’s face was covered in blood when the final bell sounded.
Lara is now 9-3 overall and 3-2 in Bellator with back-to-back impressive TKO wins. Arteaga dropped to 5-4 overall and 4-4 in Bellator.
“I know I’m ready to be the champ,” said Lara, who will be in attendance for tonight’s title fight between Macfarlane and Kate Jackson. “I know I’m (at) the level to face everyone in the weight class. I feel this is my best performance.”
It was the fight of the night on a card that lost its main event less than two hours before it was scheduled to go off.
Former UFC world champion Josh Barnett, who was set to make his Bellator debut in his first mixed martial arts fight in three years, had his fight canceled by th e promotion.
Bellator President Scott Coker announced on social media, “on the advice of the Hawaii State Boxing Comission, tonight’s main event bout between Josh Barnett and Ronny Markes has been canceled. Barnett has not been cleared tonight due to severe illness.”
Hilo’s Toby Misech, who missed weight by nearly 6 pounds, ended the night with a first-round knockout of Erik Perez in 54 seconds.
“I was a little disappointed with myself. First time I have missed weight,’ Misech said. “It was just another fight for me. I’m always the underdog. This is our town. This is my home.”
Undefeated prospect Joey Davis has won all seven of his fights in Bellator and earned his fifth first-round stoppage to kick off the main card with a TKO of Hilo’s Chris Cisneros (19-11).
The fight was stopped at 3:55 of the first round after Davis took down Cisneros just seconds into the fight and beat him up against the cage with a series of strikes, bloodying his opponent before it was called.
Davis was 133-0 as a college wrestler at Notre Dame College in Ohio.
Braydon Akeo, a three-time state wrestling champion at Mililani, lost a unanimous decision to Tywan Claxton (6-1) by three 30-27 scores to fall to 3-1 overall in his Bellator debut.
Preliminary results from Bellator 235:
>> Hunter Ewald (1-0) def. Brysen Bolohao (0-2) by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:42 of R1
>> Joseph Creer (7-1-1) def. Ty Gwerder (4-1) by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-26)
>> Cass Bell (5-0) def. Pierre Daguzan (5-4, 1 NC) by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
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