TEMECULA, California -- A change in scenery did not slow the fall of veteran lightweight Melvin Guillard, as he suffered a split-decision loss to Brandon Girtz in his Bellator MMA debut on Friday.
Fighting for his third promotion in the last two years, Guillard (32-15-2) fell to Girtz via official scores of 28-29 and 29-27 (twice). ESPN.com scored the fight for Girtz, 29-27.
The lightweight fight headlined Bellator 141 at Pechanga Resort and Casino. Earlier this year, World Series Of Fighting granted Guillard his unconditional release, following a tumultuous two-fight run.
Girtz (13-4), who entered the fight a near 3-to-1 betting underdog, hurt Guillard with a straight left in the opening minute. He went on to badly out-wrestle him in the first and third rounds, although he was badly hurt himself by punches at the end of the fight.
"It didn't go exactly as I thought," Girtz said. "He was a lot tougher than I actually thought he was. I thought once it got past the first round I'd be able to break him but he's a tough kid."
After a miserable first round, Guillard bounced back somewhat in the second. With his left eye half closed due to the elbows he'd eaten on the ground, Guillard worked back to his feet from a takedown after Girtz was overaggressive with an armbar attempt and started to clip his opponent with the right hand.
In the third, Girtz returned to the takedown and put Guillard on his back in the opening 20 seconds. With 90 seconds left in the fight, referee John McCarthy stood Girtz up from top position after a period of inactivity. Guillard tried to take advantage, blitzing Girtz immediately on the restart and hurting him with knees to the head. He grew too wild though, and Girtz took him down again to end the threat.
Guillard, who was released by the UFC in 2014 following a loss to Michael Johnson, drops to 1-3 in his last four fights.
Freire rebounds to outpoint Awad
It took nearly one year, but lightweight Patricky "Pitbull" Freire finally bounced back from a loss in his last fight by claiming a decision win over fellow contender Saad Awad.
Freire (14-6), who hadn't fought since suffering a loss to Marcin Held in September, out-worked Awad on the feet and scored a handful of key takedowns to earn unanimous 30-27 scores from the judges.
A two-time Bellator tournament finalist, Freire worked leg kicks early and landed several hard right hands in the 15-minute contest. He struggled at times to effectively close distance against the longer Awad (18-7), but he stayed relatively busy and had Awad tired in the final round.
The contest was probably closer than the 30-27 scores indicated. Awad did an all right job keeping Freire at the end of his punches -- particularly in the second round -- but he failed to put together any kind of rhythm. He surrendered a takedown in each of the earlier rounds and spent a decent amount of time on his back in the second frame.
Freire didn't land much offense from top position, but he racked up control time in a fight that lacked a ton of offense. In the third round, a tired Awad mostly threw defensive jabs to keep Freire at a distance.
The win improved Freire, who is the older brother of Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Freire, to 4-1 in his last five fights. Lightweight champ Will Brooks specifically asked for the winner of the Freire-Awad matchup.
"He talks too much," Freire said. "He's a clown. [Will], shut up. I'm coming."
Wren completes comeback with decision win
In his first professional fight in more than five years, Justin Wren turned in a three-round decision over journeyman heavyweight Josh Burns.
A former contestant on "The Ultimate Fighter" reality series in the UFC, Wren stepped away from MMA in 2010 in order to spearhead a humanitarian effort in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The 28-year-old traveled to the African region six times, including one trip that lasted a full year. He founded an organization titled Fight for the Forgotten, which has helped the Mbuti Pygmy tribes legally purchase land.
Wren (11-2) returned to a different kind of fight on Friday, and looked pretty good doing so. He battered Burns (8-9) with jabs, right hands and heavy knees from the Thai clinch, en route to a unanimous victory on the scorecards. All three judges scored the fight for Wren: 30-26 (twice) and 30-27.
"I couldn't have planned for the adrenaline dump," Wren said. "Five years off, there was ring rust. I felt it. It didn't go to the ground -- that was a surprise. His wrestling is slick.
"He had cuts over both eyes. I landed some solid knees. My knees are swollen from landing them to his head. He can take shots, that's for sure."
The fight got off to a bit of a slow start, as Wren attempted to shake off some of that rust. He worked into a long clinch with Burns, which eventually prompted referee Jason Herzog to step in and separate the two.
Things picked up quickly from there as Wren hurt Burns with a short right cross and followed with knees to the body. Burns backed his way to the fence, where Wren unloaded with knees to the body and head.
Wren picked up where he left off in the second round, picking at Burns with the jab before landing a hard straight right. He continued to work into the Thai clinch and land knees, which busted up Burns' face. The 37-year-old Burns refused to go down, however, keeping his balance along the fence and eventually shoving Wren away from him.
Wren, who fights out of Team Takedown in Texas, extended his long dormant win streak to four. Burns falls to 0-6 in the Bellator cage.
Coenen submits Blencowe in Round 2
Bellator featherweight Marloes Coenen recorded her second consecutive submission win, tapping Arlene Blencowe via armbar at 3:23 of the second round.
Coenen (23-6) ate some hard shots on the feet, but proved to be far too much for Blencowe any time the fight hit the floor. She took her Australian opponent's back in the first round and easily set up the armbar in the second.
A former Strikeforce champion, Coenen struggled a bit to get Blencowe (6-5) down in the second round. Blencowe stuffed several shots and nearly ended up in full mount after Coenen clumsily attempted to throw her down.
Coenen appeared very comfortable off her back, however, and eventually got back to her feet. She finally scored a takedown after ducking under a Blencowe punch midway through the round and immediately attacked the arm.
It is the 17th submission win of Coenen's career. She is now 2-0 under the Bellator banner and 4-1 in her last five overall.
