If you engage in brawl with Paul Daley, history has proven you could find yourself in a world of hurt. Jason Jackson knows this, and for that reason, he avoided any potential chaos at Bellator 260.
Jackson executed a smart game plan full of takedowns and grappling in their 175-pound catchweight bout as he defeated Daley by unanimous decision Friday night, with the judges rendering scores of 30-27 across the board.
The victory was Jackson’s fifth in a row, and it continued a them in his career of late – his seventh consecutive bout to go to a decision. Jackson is 6-1 in those matchups.
Fans at Mohegan Sun weren’t pleased with the action – or lack thereof. They booed throughout, but Jackson had a message for them.
“Hey, Connecticut, it’s not easy to do what me and Paul just did,” Jackson said. “We came here. We fought our ass off.”
Jackson scores the first big move of the fight, with the takedown on @Semtex_170!#Bellator260 is LIVE on @SHOsports. pic.twitter.com/xUUnFGv1ye
— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) June 12, 2021
Jackson (15-4 MMA, 5-1 BMMA) established the center of the cage and had Paul (43-18-2 MMA, 9-5 BMMA) on his back foot near the fence from the opening bell. Daley worked the body repeatedly with jabs until Jackson secured his first of several takedowns about halfway through. While he controlled the remainder of the round, Jackson didn’t do much with his top position – a theme throughout the fight.
In Round 2, Daley came out more aggressively, but Jackson put an end to that with a takedown about a minute in and controlled the round. Daley took the center of the cage to start Round 3, but Jackson again secured a takedown about 40 seconds in. He eventually worked to take Daley’s back, but Daley transitioned to his back, with Jackson laying on top of him. The referee stood them up with 1 minute remaining, which gave Daley a chance to score a knockout down two rounds. Daley threw big punches and went for it, but he missed a flying knee and fell right into another takedown to close out the round.
As unhappy as fans might’ve been, Jackson was not.
“I needed to prove to myself that I could go in there and fight the champ,” Jackson said. “This guy went five rounds with Douglas Lima. I know if I can go with him and beat him, I can beat the champion Doulgas Lima.”
Up-to-the-minute Bellator 260 results include:
- Jason Jackson def. Paul Daley via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – 175-pound contract weight
- Aaron Pico def. Aiden Lee via submission (anaconda choke) – Round 3, 1:33
- Mark Lemminger def. Demarques Jackson via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 3:30
- Kyle Crutchmer def. Levan Chokheli via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Justin Gonzales def. Tywan Claxton via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Bobby King def. Nick Newell via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
- Lucas Brennan def. Matthew Skibicki via submission (anaconda choke) – Round 1, 1:54
- Marina Mokhnatkina def. Amanda Bell via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Alex Polizzi def. Gustavo Trujillo via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 4:22
