MMAjunkie's 'Fight of the Month' for November is a classic Bellator title battle

Daniel Straus and Patricio Freire

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMAjunkie takes a look at the best fights from November. Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMAjunkie’s “Fight of the Month” award for November.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.

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The Nominees

Daniel Straus def. Patricio Freire via unanimous decision at Bellator 145

The third time was the charm for Daniel Straus (25-6 MMA, 11-3 BMMA) when he defeated Patricio Freire (24-3 MMA, 12-3 BMMA) to win the Bellator featherweight title. Straus had suffered two previous losses to “Pitbull” and was presented with a rare third chance to make it right. He was successful, because he implemented a near-perfect game plan over the course of five rounds and took an entertaining unanimous decision over Freire in one of the more memorable Bellator title fights in recent history.

Melvin Manhoef def. Hisaki Kato via punch at Bellator 146

Middleweight sluggers Melvin Manhoef (30-12-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) and Hisaki Kato (5-2 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) were expected to go toe-to-toe, and that’s exactly what happened before “No Mercy” scored a first-round knockout victory. Manhoef traded in fearless striking exchanges with Kato for several minutes before a perfect overhand left knocked the French fighter down and out.

Marat Gafurov def. Jadamba Narantgungalag via rear-naked choke at ONE Championship 33

It was far from easy, but Marat Gafurov (13-0) successfully unified the ONE Championship featherweight title when he beat Jadamba Narantungalag (10-4) via technical submission in the fourth round of the champion-vs.-champion affair. After a back-and-forth fight Narantungalag found himself in a fully locked-in rear-naked choke. He escaped a similar position earlier, but couldn’t survive the final attempt. He refused to tap out and was choked unconscious to give Gafurov the victory.

HIGHLIGHTS: https://www.facebook.com/ONEFCMMA/videos/997959290227326/

Neil Magny def. Kelvin Gastelum via split decision at UFC Fight Night 78

In his fifth fight of the year, Neil Magny (17-5 MMA, 10-3 UFC) earned his fourth UFC victory of 2015 when he took a split decision over Kelvin Gastelum (11-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in an entertaining “Fight of the Night” battle in the welterweight division. It was a competitive affair that saw Magny take a jump ahead in the early rounds before Gastelum rallied in the latter portion to make it a fight. It was too little too late, though, and Magny got the nod from the judges.

Benson Henderson def. Jorge Masvidal via split decision at UFC Fight Night 79

Although the victory came by the slimmest of margins, Benson Henderson (23-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) picked up another UFC main-event victory when he topped Jorge Masvidal (29-10 MMA, 6-3 UFC) by split decision after five action-filled rounds at welterweight. Masvidal gave Henderson plenty of problems. However, Henderson’s vast experience in championship-length fights served him well once again, and he did the little things necessary to earn key points on the scorecards.

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The Winner: Daniel Straus vs. Patricio Freire

In a classic 25-minute title fight, Straus captured the Bellator featherweight title for the second time when he beat champ Freire.

Straus took a unanimous decision from “Pitbull” getting scores of 49-46 and a pair of 48-47s in a fight that featured plenty of slugging – and a big knockdown by Straus in the second round.

The featherweights danced around each other for the first minute before Freire finally threw a punch that Straus ducked under. The two clinched up with Straus’ back on the fence. When they broke away, Straus looked for a takedown two minutes in, but couldn’t secure it. Each fighter swung and missed. After a scramble on the ground with about a minute left, Freire got back to his feet to find a flying knee from Straus coming right at him. He barely got out of the way, then dodged a heavy hand that followed it.

The second round featured much clinch work in the first two minutes, but when the fighters broke off, it was Straus planting the champion on the canvas with a pair of right jabs, followed by a vicious straight left hand. Straus pounced on him and went to work with punches, but Freire played defense by latching on to one of Straus’ arms. Straus slammed his way out of it, then went right back to work with punches before going after a guillotine choke. But Freire got out and started slugging with 45 seconds left and the two went back to the middle. A high kick from Straus was caught, but the challenger made a big statement in the round.

A pair of punches from Straus connected in the third, and he followed it up with another one and a body kick. Straus ducked under a punch, then landed big again. The challenger slipped throwing a punch, but Freire couldn’t capitalize. Midway through the round, Straus put some good combos on the champ, but Freire stayed in the pocket. Referee John McCarthy stopped the fight for a moment from an accidental eye poke from Straus to Freire. But when things got going again, Straus was back to landing heavy stuff or just missing.

Freire complained of an eyepoke again in the fourth, and McCarthy told Straus again to watch himself before they restarted. The pace slowed until Straus bombed a left hand and followed it with a hard right. But he couldn’t put “Pitbull” on the canvas that time. But he kept slinging leather hoping to connect. A takedown attempt with 90 seconds left nearly went awry when Freire went after a guillotine choke, but Straus broke out. He continued to land on the champ, but Freire, for his part, was able to fire back – just not at the same pace or strength.

Freire may have been told he was down in the fight, because his pace seemed to pick up early in the fifth. But when he tried to get inside to take Straus down, it was defended and took Freire right out of his offense. About midway through the fifth, Freire was able to get Straus to the canvas and took his back. He landed punches to the body as Straus covered up. Freire looked for a choke while Straus went into defensive mode. With 90 seconds left, he got back to his feet, but wasn’t quite out of danger yet with Freire pressing him to the cage. A spinning elbow from Freire was off the mark with a minute left, and with 45 seconds left they came out slugging at each other. Freire was winning late on volume, but it may have been too little, too late to come out on top of the thrilling affair.