NCAA Division I All-American Pat Downey had his second professional MMA fight at Bellator 289 and unfortunately for the young grappler, he also suffered his first loss in the sport. Downey has been one of the most interesting and controversial wrestling stars in recent memory, and he even adapted his skills to submission grappling too. The future has looked bright for Downey for quite some time so when news broke that he was skipping the amateur circuit entirely and had signed a contract with Bellator to make his professional MMA debut, fans were excited to see what would become of him.
His debut was delayed a little when he suffered a nasty skin condition, but he did eventually step into the cage for the first time at Bellator 284. Downey controlled the fight right from the start, taking down his opponent and submitting him inside of a minute of the very first round. He decided to finish off his year strong and take one more fight before moving into 2023, against Christian Echols, who held a 2-2 record coming into the fight.
Downey did get to showcase some of his elite wrestling and took Echols down with ease, even attempting a choke at one point. Echols escaped back to his feet though and quickly put his superior striking to work, flooring Downey with a well-timed left hook. Downey got back to his feet but immediately ate a huge right uppercut and was knocked out cold, with the referee waving the fight off and bringing his record in the cage to 1-1.
Bellator 289 Full Results
Raufeon Stots defeats Danny Sabatello via Decision – Split (45-50, 48-47, 48-47)
Stots retains the Bellator Interim Bantamweight world championship
Liz Carmouche defeats Juliana Velasquez via Submission – Armbar (Round 2, 4:24)
Carmouche retains the Bellator Flyweight world championship
Patchy Mix defeats Magomed Magomedov via Submission – Guillotine Choke (Round 2, 2:39)
Dalton Rosta defeats Anthony Adams via Decision – Unanimous (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary Card
Ilara Joanne defeats Denise Kielholtz via Decision – Split (27-30, 29-28, 30-27)
Cris Lencioni defeats Cody Law via Decision – Split (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
Jaleel Willis defeats Kyle Crutchmer via Decision – Unanimous (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Kai Kamaka defeats Kevin Boehm via TKO – Punches (Round 1, 2:27)
Mark Lemminger defeats Michael Lombardo via TKO – Punches (Round 3, 2:23)
Christian Echols defeats Pat Downey via Knockout – Punch (Round 1, 4:23)
Cass Bell defeats Jared Scoggins via Decision – Split (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
The full Bellator 289 event replay, including Pat Downey v Christian Echols, will be available to watch on Showtime, click here to see more.
