Coming off a 22-second TKO loss to Arlene Blencowe at Bellator 224 in July, featherweight Amanda Bell was in need of a win in her bout versus Janay Harding at Bellator 233 on Nov. 11 if she was going to close out her 2019 with a positive record for the year.
With 16 seconds left in the fight, Bell was able to finally put away Harding, allowing herself to close out 2019 on a positive note.
“I was happy that I won, but it definitely wasn’t easy,” Bell told MMAWeekly.com. “We knew she was going to put up a fight.
“We knew she was coming in having improved and focused on her boxing and her wrestling to try to counteract against me. I was actually quite impressed with how fast she accelerated with it too. It definitely gave me a lot of trouble. I thought it was a really good fight for both of us and I’m happy that I won and was able to pull out all the stops when it became necessary.”
With the victory over Harding, Bell feels like she had a productive 2018, especially with all the changes she made throughout the year.
“We went two for three (in fights), and honestly, overall, I’m happy with 2019,” said Bell.
“The contract that we had re-negotiated with Bellator at the beginning of the year more added on to my financial situation, so that helped change my life. With the change of switching gyms at this point, 2019 definitely stayed a lot busier than I was expecting it to, but I’m happy with the success.”
For Bell the main goal for 2020 is to rack up consecutive wins and make a case for herself to hopefully challenge for a title before year’s end.
“Right now, it’s kind of fight by fight for me,” Bell said. “I don’t feel I’ve been able to keep a winning streak going strong enough that it’s going to lead me to being focused on any kind of title contention or anything.
“I think right now it’s just focusing on the changes that are coming, being surrounded by a new area and new team, and trying to stay focused and hit the ground running to stay consistent.”
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