Bellator 176 Results: Rafael Carvalho Knocks Out Melvin Manhoef In Italy To Retain The Middleweight Title

Bellator 176’s MMA card just concluded from the Pala Alpitour in Torino, Italy and it was a great night (or afternoon, depending on your timezone) of fights headlined by a middleweight title fight between current Bellator middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho and knockout artist Melvin Manhoef. This was a rematch of a pretty terrible fight from May 2016 where Carvalho edged Manhoef on the scorecards to take the title. This time Carvalho didn’t leave any doubt, knocking Manhoef out with a high kick in the fourth round.

After an extremely tentative first fight, it was a relief to see both fighters come out strong and go at it, racking up more strikes in the first round than the first fight had in total. Manhoef was his usual explosive self, leaping into his looping dangerous punches while Carvalho’s game was much more centered on keeping the stocky kickboxer on the outside and slowing the pace down against the cage when things got too heated.

Through the first half of the fight, Carvalho used his length to pepper Manhoef and avoid his dangerous attacks. A decision win started to look unlikely for Melvin when the referee took a point halfway through round three after Manhoef grabbed the fence to stop a takedown. In round four Melvin came out guns blazing but it was all for naught when Rafael uncorked a killer headkick that put Melvin out on his feet. With that Carvalho retained his Bellator middleweight title, and millions of Manhoef fans cried out in pain and were suddenly silenced.

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Full Bellator 176 results:
Rafael Carvalho def. Melvin Manhoef via knockout (Round 4, 3:15)
Anastasia Yankova def. Elina Kallionidou via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Mihail Nica def. Samba Coulibaly via submission (anaconda choke) (Round 1, 0:36)
Valeriu Mircea def. Djamil Chan via majority decision (28-28, 29-28, 29-28)