Dan Hornbuckle Handles Brad Blackburn at Bellator 25

The Handler had a hell of a time with Brad Blackburn at Bellator 25, but he pulled it off.

He suffered a hard first round in which Blackburn exploded on him with shots and had him hanging by a thread just to survive the first round.

The second round...well, to say the least, it was a pretty interesting round.

Hornbuckle was able to land a few strikes of his own and defend some of Blackburn's takedowns, but the middle of round two is when the tide turned from Blackburn to Hornbuckle.

Hornbuckle came at a distance and was attempting a flying knee when Blackburn threw an inside leg kick.

Did the impact from the kick cause the wind to rush from Hornbuckle's body as the man appeared motionless on the floor?

It seemed that way.

Then the commentators started speculation as to whether the kick was really and inside leg kick or an accidental low blow.

The replay showed it to be a little bit of both, although Blackburn definitely intended for the kick to be an inside leg kick that could have caused an awkward landing and set Blackburn up for a ticket to victory by ground-and-pound.

Accidents happen, but someone in the crowd had to find it a miracle that Hornbuckle was even able to move around as well as he did for the rest of that round and the third round.

Either way, Blackburn kept it coming for the rest of the fight, without question.

By the third round though, Hornbuckle—who had spent portions of the fight taking down Blackburn as well as defending some of Blackburn's best and taking some of Blackburn's best—showed himself to be more of the aggressor on the strikes, landing with some strong lefts, rights, and kicks on Blackburn.

Granted, none of them really rocked Blackburn, but they did enough to keep Blackburn in a state of mind where he almost felt as though finishing Hornbuckle might have been the only way out.

The fight ended when Hornbuckle threw some kicks that stung Blackburn a little bit, but again there was little in the strikes that rocked Blackburn.

Unquestionably, that kick in the second round had a strong effect on the judges' overall scoring of the fight, because whereas it was inadvertent, it was also one that connected in the one spot where it always hurts like hell.

The Handler is back in business, but "Bad Brad" Blackburn did some good work here tonight.

Don't be surprised if something happens and Blackburn's face is one you see more of in Bellator.

He may not have won, but he did show The Handler who really was "Bad" tonight.