Bellator 296: Fabian Edwards beats Gegard Mousasi in Paris to set up middleweight title shot
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Bellator 296: Fabian Edwards beats Gegard Mousasi to win middleweight title eliminator
Fabian Edwards beat Gegard Mousasi by unanimous decision at Bellator 296 in Paris to set up a middleweight title fight against champion Johnny Eblen.
The Briton was the cleaner striker and got the better of many of the grappling exchanges across the five rounds.
Following the bout, he was confronted by American Eblen who was at cage-side as Bellator confirmed they would fight on 23 September in Dublin.
"One more fight until I get that gold belt and make history," said Edwards.
The victory moves Birmingham's Edwards, 30, a step closer to MMA history and his dream of joining his brother Leon, who holds the UFC welterweight belt, as a champion.
Siblings like Anthony and Sergio Pettis, and Patricio and Patricky Freire, have all held world titles, but never at the same time across multiple major MMA promotions.
Edwards came into the bout on a two-fight win streak after beating Lyoto Machida and Charlie Ward last year - a run which has seen him rise to second in the Bellator middleweight rankings, one place behind Mousasi.
In Mousasi he was facing a former champion himself, with the Dutch fighter previously holding the middleweight title before losing it to Eblen in June.
Mousasi, 37, was taking part in the 60th bout of a distinguished 20-year MMA career, which has seen him headline across multiple top promotions, including the UFC and Strikeforce.
In the build-up, Edwards described the meeting with Mousasi as the biggest contest of his 13-fight career, which has yielded 11 wins over six years.
With Leon in his corner, Edwards started the fight strongly, landing a sharp straight left on Mousasi while his corner urged him to start using his feet more.
There was controversy in the second round when the fight was stopped following an illegal knee on the ground from Mousasi - a move that infuriated Edwards' corner, who demanded that the referee deduct a point.
The referee did not punish the former champion, but Edwards did not allow himself to become distracted.
Throughout the next rounds, Edwards mixed up his attacks well, landing a swift right-hand body shot combination on Mousasi, peppering him with leg kicks and landing a takedown.
Mousasi secured a takedown of his own but Edwards quickly got back to his feet, and while he landed sporadic leg kicks on the Briton, he never looked fully comfortable with his striking.
Fabian Edwards will fight in Dublin for the chance to become just the second British Bellator champion
Going into the fifth round, Edwards' corner told their fighter he had "four rounds in the bank" believing he would secure victory if he survived the final five minutes.
Edwards then stamped his authority on the fight in the closing stages as he took Mousasi down, gained back control and dictated the action on the ground until the final bell.
As the referee brought the fighters together, Edwards mouthed to the camera: "I'm coming - that's my belt."
And in his post-fight interview, Edwards said: "There are levels. After I suffered my losses. A lot of people wrote me of, thought I was finished."
He then told Eblen "I like that belt" before the champion responded "that I was a pretty good performance but I'm a much better fighter - that belt is mine".
Disappointment for France's Barnaoui
In the co-main event, Brent Primus overcame vociferous support for home favourite Mansour Barnaoui as he ground out a unanimous decision win in their Bellator Lightweight Grand Prix quarter-final.
Barnaoui, 30, was spurred on by the Paris crowd, with some audience members shouting through a megaphone and banging a drum, and a section of the crowd even letting off flares.
Bellator 296: Thibault Gouti punishes Kane Mousah in Paris
In the early stages of the fight, Barnaoui relentlessly pressured American Primus, landing a number of strikes against the cage.
Primus, 38, recovered in the second round to control the fight on the ground, but Barnaoui came back again in the third, landing a succession of knees from the clinch against a visibly tiring Primus.
Primus looked close to defeat at one stage as he fell to the ground but survived until the fourth round and, remarkably, gained control again in the latter stages of the contest.
A former lightweight champion, Primus out-grappled Barnaoui for the rest of the fight and came close to finishing the bout with a triangle and rear-naked choke before the bell.
He will face current champion Usman Nurmagomedov in the semi-finals.
Elsewhere, Edwards' team-mate Tim Wilde extended his unbeaten streak to five as he beat Chris Gonzalez by unanimous decision in a lightweight contest.
There was defeat for Manchester's Kane Mousah, however, as he suffered a second-round knockout by home favourite Thibault Gouti, while Scotland's Keir Harvie lost on points to Fabacary Diatta.
Mousah's team-mate Saul Rogers' bout with Davy Gallon was declared a no-contest after the referee mistakenly stopped the fight early while Gallon was defending a submission hold.