Cortez Phelia hurts knee in Bellator loss
Cortez Phelia was looking to pick up his first Bellator win when he stepped into the cage against Eric Ramirez. He came up short in his attempt when he tapped out to a guillotine choke in the first minute of the final round.
Up until that point it appeared that Phelia was winning on the scorecards. The Reed Academy fighter was able to land numerous power strikes, but nothing to put Ramirez away. At one point during the opening round Phelia buckled to the mat after he stood up. It happened after Ramirez attempted to finish the fight by heel hook- Phelia was maneuvering and twisting his leg trying to escape. This appeared to be the cause of him buckling his knee when stood back up and tried to pivot away.
In the second round of the fight, Ramirez once again attacked Phelia with several submission attempts but was not successful. That was about the extent of his offense during the round as Phelia was able to control, and dominate the rest of the round. He was able to land strikes while in Ramirez’s guard, but did not have a chance, nor gas to string enough shots together to finish the fight.
Then once the final round started Phelia went for a takedown but was stuffed by Ramirez, who saw the opening. The Michigan resident was able to lock on a guillotine choke. At first, it looked as if Phelia was going to withstand the submission attempt like he did earlier in the fight. However, this time the choke was in deep leaving no room for Phelia to escape.
At this moment, we don’t know how serious Phelia hurt his knee but he did need assistance standing at the end of the fight. We will keep you updated with the latest on his condition.
**First two minutes of the fight is missing and no audio is captured**
