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Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff Writer
Jason Jackson has witnessed the powerhouse Kill Cliff FC team pick up achievement after achievement over the years, serving as a training partner and corner for elite fighters such as former UFC welterweight champions Kamaru Usman and Robbie Lawler.
On Friday, it was his turn.
Jackson stunned Yaroslav Amosov via TKO at 2:08 of the third round in the main event of Bellator 301 in Chicago to win the promotion’s welterweight title. Amosov came in as the dominant champion with a record of 27-0, the best undefeated mark in major MMA, and was a heavy favorite.
Amosov’s bread and butter is his wrestling. But Jackson is a very good wrestler himself, and he was able to stay off his back the whole fight, while making Amosov pay with counters and hard combinations. In the finishing sequence, Jackson landed a tremendous right cross, left hook, right cross combination that dropped Amosov. Jackson continued landing while Amosov was on the ground until referee Blake Grice stepped in.
ESPN had Amosov ranked No. 6 in the world at welterweight coming in.
Jackson has been unheralded. He failed to get into the UFC on two occasions, once on “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2015 and another time on “Dana White’s Contender Series” in 2017. But he has been fighting stiff competition for his entire career and getting better. Jackson’s second pro fight was a loss to former UFC interim welterweight champion Colby Covington.
Jackson (17-4) has won seven straight fights. The Jamaica native is a former LFA and Titan FC welterweight champion. Jackson, 33, has beaten former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson, former Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima and hard-hitting veteran Paul Daley during his streak.
Amosov (27-1) had won all eight of his Bellator fights coming in. The Ukraine native beat Lima to win the title in 2021. Amosov, 30, had one title defense, a unanimous decision win over Jackson’s teammate Logan Storley back in February.
In the co-main event Friday, Patchy Mix beat Sergio Pettis via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:51 of the second round to become the undisputed Bellator bantamweight champion. Pettis came in as the champ and Mix was the interim titleholder, which was necessitated due to a Pettis injury last year.
Coming in, ESPN had Pettis ranked No. 7 and Mix ranked No. 9 in the world at bantamweight. Mix (19-1), a 30-year-old New York native, has won six straight, five of those via finish.