Dormant Bellator heavyweight division heats up
By BOB EMANUEL JR. | Scripps Howard News Service
Bellator MMA’s heavyweight division has been largely inactive since Cole Konrad defeated Neil Grove for the inaugural title in October 2010.
Konrad defended the belt just once — a first-round submission of Eric Prindle in May 2012 — then retired five months later with a 9-0 mark.
Last December, Alexander Volkov defeated Richard Hale in the Season Seven heavyweight tournament finale to capture the vacant belt.
But the inactivity might be over soon. Vitaly Minakov won the Summer Series tournament earlier this year and will face Volkov for the title. And, the current Season Nine tournament could soon deliver a high-profile challenger.
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship veterans Cheick Kongo and Lavar Johnson will appear in separate heavyweight tournament semifinals Friday during Bellator 102 at the Visalia (Calif.) Convention Center.
Kongo, who will face Mark Godbeer, is 18-8-2 with wins against Matt Mitrione, Pat Barry and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic as part of his 11-6-1 UFC record. Johnson, who will face Vinicius Queiroz, is 17-7. He also defeated Barry and was 2-2 in the UFC.
The main card (Spike TV, 3 p.m. HST) will also feature the 2013 Summer Series bantamweight tournament finale — Rafael Silva vs. Anthony Leone — and the Season Nine middleweight tournament semifinals — Jason Butcher vs. Mikkel Parlo and Joe Pacheco vs. Brennan Ward.
The preliminaries (www.spike.com, 1 p.m. HST) include: lightweights Cain Carrizosa vs. Juan Quesada; lightweights Jonny Carson vs. Bryan Travers; lightweights Brandon Girtz vs. Poppies Martinez; heavyweights Javy Ayala vs. Thiago Santos; featherweights Scott Cleve vs. Isaac De Jesus; heavyweights Brandon Cash vs. William Richey.
