Bellator makes its way to Oklahoma for its second fight of season eight with one title fight and five tournament quarter final match-ups. That one title fight will be the main event of the evening as welterweight champion Ben Askren puts his title on the line against the season six welterweight tournament winner Karl Amoussou.
Askren enters the fight at a perfect 10-0 and is in most people’s minds a top ten fighter in the 170 pound weight class. Amoussou will look to blemish Askren’s record on Thursday night in what appears to be an up hill battle for the Frenchman. Amoussou has won his last four fights but none of them were against a guy as good as Askren. With the exception of the Jay Hieron fight, Akren has dominated the competition with his incredible wrestling and work ethic. It will take a Hieron like performance for Amoussou to even have chance at winning his fight. If he can keep it standing he should have the advantage striking wise but I don’t see the fight staying on the feet for very long.
In his much hyped and anticipated signing, former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed Lawal aka King Mo will make his long awaited return to MMA after a year suspension from the sport. For his return fight and Bellator debut he will be taking on Polish fighter Prezemyslaw Mysiala in the last quarter final fight in the season eight light heavyweight tournament. This fight along with the tournament as a whole is King Mo’s to lose. Lawal is the clear cut favorite in this fight and the only question mark will be his conditioning. He is no doubt a top ten caliber light heavyweight but will being out of action for over a year keep him from winning?
Besides those to big match-ups, Bellator 86 will also feature the kick off to their season eight welterweight tournament. Four quarter final fights are set for Thursday with two of them most likely to be shown on the Spike TV portion of the card. The other two will be featured on the under card courtesy of spike.com. The tournament breaksdown as follows; Former tournament champion Douglas Lima will be put up against Russian submission specialist Michail Tsarev. Former Dream and Strikeforce veteran Marius Zaromskis will face former tournament runner-up Brent Weedman to fill out one side of the bracket. In the other side of the bracket, the most experienced fighter in the tournament Jose Gomes will face Raul Amaya. In the last quarter final fight, TUF alumnus Ben Saunders will lock horns with Bellator newcomer Kofi Adzitso.
Despite losing Paul Daley and Warmachine for this tournament, the overall field is still very solid and features some really exciting fighters. Douglas Lima, Ben Saunders, Marius Zaromskis and Brent Weedman are all known commodities but I am looking forward to seeing how the three lesser known fighters perform. Especially Gomes/Amaya because their fight is the only pairing that most have not seen fight before. With one of these gentleman moving onto the next round, will Bellator create a new sensation or set-up an easy pass to the finals for one its stars?
With King Mo an a new tournament kicking off, Bellator appears to have a card that can carry its momentum in the ratings from last weeks show into this one. The one deterrent to that theory will be Ben Askren. “Funky” is a winner for sure but not an exciting one. Six of his seven fights under the Bellator banner have been by decision and chances are the same will happen again. With the success and praise Bellator 85 got, Bellator 86 will depend on Askren possibly grinding out another five round decision victory.
