....................................BELLATOR199......................................
Bellator Fighting Championships return to it's hometown base of San Jose California Saturday May 12, 2018,
for it's final heavyweight quarterfinal bout in the Heavyweight Tournament Grand Prix, which will determine who will be Bellator's next Heavyweight champion.
Headlined by
Mohammed "King Mo" Lawal vs. Ryan "Darth" Bader for the coveted final quarterfinal spot, Bellator 199 promises to deliver fireworks on it's final card before the promotion's highly anticipated Bellator 200 landmark event from London England, where all 4 Heavyweight semi-finalists will likely be displayed, along with dates for their respective upcoming bouts
"King Mo" is no stranger to the Heavyweight tournament format, having won
Rizin Fighting Championships Inaugural Heavyweight Tournament Championship NYE 2015 at Japan's infamous Saitama Super Arena,
in stunning fashion.
King Mo's opponent is no stranger to accolades, being
Bellator's current Light -Heavyweight Champion.
Ryan "Darth" Bader last defended his belt in dominant fashion over Bellator's highly regarded Light Heavyweight Veteran
Linton Vassell, (
whose last defeat came at the hands of....you guessed it, King Mo,
at Bellators Inaugural
DYNAMITE show 2 1/2 years ago).
Many have been wondering, what if someone gets hurt?
Where are the alternates?
And for that, Bellator has veteran
Cheick Kongo looking to re-establish himself against the extremely tough
Javy Ayala for a
possible alternate spot.
Cheick has been on a statistical tear, currently riding a 5-fight win streak, which includes a unanimous decision over current UFC HW Title contender
Alexander Volkov , and Cheick's last loss came against, again, you guessed it, King Mo.
It will be interesting to see if he can win his way to a rematch.
To do that, he has to get by Javy.
Javy, who lost out on an initial tournament spot, being edged out in a decision by
Roy "Big Country" Nelson at Bellator 183, made fame by first knocking out former Bellator Heavyweight
Thiago Santos, then welcoming famed Heavyweight
Sergei Kharitonov to Bellator with a
stunning 16-second highlight-reel knockout, *the fastest in Bellator history*.
At just 29, the
Hunt'esque Ayala looks for another big name to add to his resume, and a hopeful slot as an alternate and "true" Heavyweight in the tournament.
Scott Coker's last HW tournament was the legendary Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament, in which the newcomer
Daniel Cormierpeppered
Jeff Monson in an alternate bout, and eventually went on to win the tournament as an "injured"
Alistair Overeemleft a spot vacant.
Just goes to show you, in a tournament,
especially at Heavyweight, ANYTHING can happen.
Also on the card, mainstay veteran and knockout artists
Paul "Semtex" Daleywelcomes fellow veteran
Jon Fitch to Bellator who comes in from WSOF/PFL riding a 4-fight win streak.
"Semtex" is coming off an impressive KO victory at Bellator 183 over
Lorenz Larkin.
And young superstar
Aaron Pico looks to make another impression on Bellator audiences after back-to-back stunning KO victories, as he faces veteran
Lee "The American Bulldog" Morrison, who's looking to put Okanogan country on the map with a win to add to his already consecutive 4.
Rounding out the main card,
Adam Piccolotti looks to return to his winning ways against the undefeated
Carrington "Jet Setter" Banks.
After starting off his professional MMA career 9-0 (his ninth victory over the always tough
Brandon Girtz), Piccolotti experienced consecutive losses to
Goiti Yamauchi and
Dave Rickels, respectively.
No one steals my thunder
@Wild
