BELFAST’S LEAH MCCOURT beat Judith Ruis by unanimous decision in their historic main event at Bellator Dublin.

McCourt (4-1) and Ruis (6-5) became the first women to headline a Bellator Europe card when they squared off in the 3Arena last night.

And it was McCourt who came out on top after three rounds, winning a unanimous decision on the judges’ cards.

Two judges gave her German opponent one round, scoring the contest 29-28 in McCourt’s favour, while the third judge scored it 30-27 to McCourt.

Elsewhere on the main card, Laois middleweight Charlie Ward took his record to 8-4 with a third-round TKO of Kyle Kurtz.

There were wins too for Kiefer Crosbie, Danni Neilan, Will Fleury, Blaine O’Driscoll and Ciaran Clarke.

But Frans Mlambo, Richard Kiely, Paul Redmond and Richie Smullen all suffered defeats.

Updated 12.23: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Charlie Ward is from Dublin; he is from Mountmellick, County Laois.

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