Bellator 284 took place on Friday, 12th August and the event saw two elite grapplers take to the cage to further their respective MMA careers, although they came out with markedly different results. First up was one of the most polarizing figures in NCAA wrestling history, Pat Downey III, who was making his long-awaited MMA debut. Downey signed with Bellator at the beginning of 2022 and was one of the biggest names that the promotion had managed to attract in quite some time. He was supposed to make his professional debut shortly after the signing but was unfortunately struck with a skin condition that hampered his ability to train and meant that he was not able to compete.
Downey’s debut at Bellator 284 was over in the blink of an eye as he took down Keyes Nelson with ease and was able to finish him with an arm-triangle choke in just a little over thirty seconds. He’s recently started working as the wrestling coach for FightSports and their ADCC training camp so it’s clear that he’s been able to take on board some of their Jiu-Jitsu expertise in exchange. In the main event, Neiman Gracie was looking to right the ship after a rough patch that has lasted for his last few fights. He has been grappling as long as he can remember and seemed destined for greatness at Bellator after winning his first nine professional MMA fights without much issue.
Unfortunately, Neiman Gracie stumbled in his first big-name fight against Rory MacDonald and hasn’t been able to recover since. That fight was the start of a streak that saw him alternate wins and losses for five fights, culminating in his most recent loss to talented wrestler Logan Storley at Bellator 274. He faced off with veteran MMA fighter Goiti Yamauchi in the main event at Bellator 284 but was outmatched in the striking department and eventually succumbed to punches in the second round of their fight.
Bellator 284 Full Results
Goiti Yamauchi defeats Neiman Gracie via Knockout – Punches (Round 2, 3:58)
Valentin Moldavsky vs. Steve Mowry was declared a no-contest – Accidental Eye Poke (Round 1, 0:54)
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane defeats Bruna Ellen via Decision – Unanimous (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Gokhan Saricam defeats Said Sowma via Decision – Split (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Aaron Jeffery defeats Austin Vanderford via TKO – Punches (Round 1, 1:25)
Marcos Breno defeats Josh Hill via Decision – Unanimous (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
DeAnna Bennett defeats Justine Kish via Decision – Unanimous (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Sullivan Cauley defeats Tyson Jeffries via Knockout – Knees (Round 1, 1:39)
Pat Downey III defeats Keyes Nelson via Submission – Arm Triangle (Round 1, 0:36)
Bailey Schoenfelder defeats Mark Currier via Submission – Rear-naked Choke (Round 2, 2:35)
Mitchell McKee defeats Tony Ortega via TKO – Punches (Round 2, 1:28)
The full Bellator 284 event replay will be available to watch on Showtime, click here to see more.
