Former IBJJF world champion Rafael Lovato Jr. (9-0) decisively defeated fellow BJJ black belt John Salter (15-4) in the co-main event of Bellator 205.
The fight involved a lot of back-and-forth action from both fighters, with Salter surviving an attempted guillotine from Lovato Jr. and using his wrestling skills even against Lovato Jr.’s barrage of strikes. However, with under a minute left in the third and final round of the fight, Lovato Jr. was able to take Salter’s back and finish him with a rear naked choke with 33 seconds left in the fight.
Take a look at some snippets of the fight below:
It's a game of inches with these two.@lovatojrbjj looking to finish the fight while @JohnSalter_mma goes into wrestle mode! #Bellator205 pic.twitter.com/xEfNcyEXMI
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) September 22, 2018
What a chess match! ♟️@lovatojrbjj and @JohnSalter_mma serving up the high-level grappling exchanges we all anticipated! #Bellator205 pic.twitter.com/wZSiTmUvYX
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) September 22, 2018
