There were many questions to be answered in the main event of Bellator 222 Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
Could Rory MacDonald handle the quick turnaround and pressure of the fight? Who would be Welterweight Champion? Who would face Douglas Lima in the finals of the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix. The answers were yes, which subsequently answered the next two.
The undefeated Neiman Gracie wasn't able to get much of anything going outside of a couple of low percentage submission attempts until round four, when he took MacDonald down and moved to mount. MacDonald on the other hand, used his range to chip away at Gracie, and scrambled out of takedown attempts, to go on and land his own. As a result, MacDonald earned a unanimous decision victory to retain his Bellator Welterweight Championship
MacDonald also moves to the finals of Bellator's Welterweight Grand Prix, where he has a date with former champion Douglas Lima. MacDonald defeated Lima in January 2018 to capture the title, but their paths have been much different. MacDonald was finished in a superfight with Gegard Mousasi, drew with Jon Fitch, and had a less than exciting defense against Gracie. Meanwhile, Lima had finishes over Andrey Koreshkov and MVP.
You can see our full coverage of Bellator 222 at this link, and check out our post-show podcast at this link. You can also tune in to the Fightful MMA Podcast every Tuesday at 2 PM EST, to hear us recap the latest in MMA.