It was a night of violence in Genoa, Italy.
On Saturday afternoon at the at the RDS Stadium, England’s Kent Kauppinen snapped his two-fight losing skid with a skull-rattling first-round knockout over hometown hero Alessio Sakara in the main event of Bellator 211.
Kicking off the bout, Kauppinen stuck to the outside as thunderous “Sakara” chants erupted around the two pugilists. Evading his opponent’s early strikes, Kauppinen folded Sakara with a counter left hook to the jaw. A stunned crowd immediately fell silent as Kauppinen followed up with pair of strikes to a stiff Sakara, forcing the referee to call a stop to the fight.