Best Performance Of The Night: Ronnie Mann At Bellator 42

It’s that time once again, fans and friends. Another major MMA event has come and gone, and it’s time for my unofficial “Best Performance of the Night” award. Bellator 42 featured several entertaining performances, a few big finishes, and some genuine wars of attrition. But there was one fighter that clearly stood out to me from this event: an international star that made his Bellator debut by brutalizing his opponent for three straight rounds of all-out domination. Here’s why Ronnie Mann’s utter obliteration of Josh Arocho took home “Best Performance of the Night”.

Let’s begin this series as we always do: by putting the fight into context.

Coming into this fight, the widely-unknown Josh Arocho had managed to compile a decent record but had lost nine times. Unfortunately, those nine losses included seven stoppages. Other than that, there’s not much else that can really be said.

The same could not be said about Ronnie Mann. Mann’s record stood at a highly respectable 18-2 with one draw. Twelve of those wins were by stoppage: two (T)KO’s and ten submissions. He had lost once by submission and once by decision. He had also competed all over the world: from England to Holland, from Croatia to the United States. Mann was especially famous as a fighter in the Japanese-based Sengoku promotion. Heading into Bellator 42, Mann was coming off of a big win that won him the Shark Fights Featherweight Championship.

Ronnie Mann’s debut in Bellator closely mirrored that of former UFC star Ben Saunders, who also recently debuted in Bellator. Much like Saunders, Mann was given a glorified warm-up opponent that stood little chance of victory.

And much like Ben Saunders, Ronnie Mann brutally dominated his sacrificial lamb of an opponent.

I say none of this to disrespect Josh Arocho, only to highlight the dominance and brilliance of Ronnie Mann. For three straight rounds, Mann went out and fully imposed his will on his opponent. From takedowns to Ground and Pound and everything in-between, Arocho had virtually no defense against Mann’s continued onslaughts. By the end of the third round, Arocho was a bruised and bloodied mess.

When the fight went to the judges, one judge scored the fight 30-25 in favor of Mann, giving Mann two 10-8 rounds. I honestly think you could make a case for scoring all three rounds 10-8.

But what really cemented Mann as a star in my eyes is what he did immediately after the fight: after spending fifteen minutes trying to punch a hole in his opponent’s head, Mann immediately helped Arocho up and embraced him. In his post-fight interview, instead of brashly calling out the rest of the Bellator roster and/or demoralizing his opponent, he complimented Arocho’s toughness and simply stated that he had no intentions of going anywhere.

Basically, Ronnie Mann spoke softly and carried one very large stick in his Bellator debut. He knew he had to make an impressive debut to justify his hype, and not only did he justify every last bit of it, he even added to it. People are already talking about Ronnie Mann vs. Joe Warren, and I personally think that would be an amazing fight. With his fantastic all-out blitzkrieg smackdown of a debut combined with his humble personality and some great post-fight sportsmanship, Ronnie Mann clearly deserves this award for “Best Performance of the Night” at Bellator 42.

And what about you, fans and friends? Who took home your unofficial end-of-night accolades?