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Bellator MMA

Watch out Bellator lightweights, Mansour Barnaoui has arrived. Barnaoui overwhelmed Adam Piccolotti with his grappling in the main event of Bellator 287 on Saturday night in Milan, Italy.

Barnaoui made his Bellator debut as a dynamic and very promising regional prospect, but there were questions about how well he would perform following a three-year hiatus from the sport. The answer: very well.

Piccolotti scored a takedown early in Round 1 but soon experienced Barnaoui's prowess for half-guard sweeps. Barnaoui utilized his long limbs to control and reign blows down on Piccolotti. Barnaoui took his opponent's back, controlled him with a body triangle and went to work. The French fighter tortured his opponent with heavy punches and painful stretches to close out the opening round.

A scramble early in Round 2 resulted in Barnaoui once again on his back. Much like in the first frame, Barnaoui struck a quick sweep to take the back and started working through multiple rear-naked choke attempts. Piccolotti did well initially but could not keep up with Barnaoui's submission attacks. Barnaoui tightened a rear-naked choke that forced Piccolotti to tap at 2:51 of the second stanza.

Barnaoui, who has fought the likes of UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and Mateusz Gamrot in the past, recently expressed a desire to compete in Bellator's planned World Lightweight Grand Prix. Barnaoui (20-4) improved his winning streak to eight. Piccolotti (13-5) has alternated wins and losses in his last six fights.