Bellator 257: Raymond Daniels dominates Peter Stanonik in three-round rematch (Video)

Bellator 257: Raymond Daniels dominates Peter Stanonik in a three-round rematch (Video)

Raymond Daniels dominated Peter Stanonik for a unanimous decision victory (30-26, 30-27, 30-26) in the rematch of their 2019 bout which ended in a no-contest.

Daniels landed a massive kick in the first round that dropped Stanonik and then pounced on the grounded fighter. Daniels gave up the groundwork and let Stanonik stand back up, a dangerous place to be with the world-class kickboxer. Stanonik proved he’s tough by surviving the early attack that many thought would signal the end of the fight. Daniels tripped him at the end of the first round to end the final 30 seconds with more ground and pound and Stanonik had Daniels in an armbar at the final bell, but the round was clearly all Daniels.

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The second round started with an ironic groin strike this time to Daniels. A quick recovery and the fight resumed with Stanonik clearly looking for a KO throwing wildly. Daniels avoided most of it and then took Stanonik to the mat again. Despite being on the bottom, Stanonik wasn’t completely stopped, he landed strikes from the bottom and it forced Daniels to go back up to the feet. Just a bit more on the feet and Daniels takes Stanonik back to the mat again with about a minute left in the round. Stanonik began eating elbows on the ground and the referee was hovering, having already warned him he wasn’t going to let him take too many shots. And they go into the third round.

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The doctor threatened to stop the fight before the third due to excessive bleeding but Stanonik wanted to go back in there and we got another round. The third was a repeat of the first two, Daniels controlling on the feet and the ground but just short of finishing the ballsy Stanonik.

This was a rematch of their no contest from 2019

Their first bout was cut short when Daniels landed back-to-back groin strikes which saw the end of the fight and Stanonik carted out of the cage on a stretcher. Many fans had wondered why Stanonik would want to get back in the cage after that, but he told FanSided at the end of the day, it’s all a fight.

“I was asked about three weeks ago if I wanted to run it back with Raymond and I said ‘Yeah.’ It was really just that simple. I had just fought maybe two months ago and I wanted to fight again. I had been staying in contact with Bellator for a while. So he hit me up and I accepted.”