This Valentine’s Day in Charlotte, Bellator 89 on Spike TV will feature the final tournament of Season 8 in the middleweight division with four quarter-final match-ups. The main event of the evening will be for the Bellator Bantamweight Championship as Eduardo Dantas puts his title on the line for the first time against the season six bantamweight tournament winner Marcus Galvao.
With an overall record of 14-2, Dantas makes his first appearance in Bellator since becoming the champion last year. Besides making his first defense of the title, he will also be entering the cage for the first time since his loss to Tyson Nam this past summer in Brazil. Dantas’ reputation took a hit by losing away from Bellator and he has a lot to prove in this fight against the very tough Galvao.
A fellow Brazilian, Galvao enters Thursday with a record of 13-5-1 and is looking to complete his journey from tournament winner to champion. Look out for the size advantage of Dantas and how Galvao handles it as a key factor in this bout.
As stated earlier, the final tournament kick-off for Season 8 of Bellator will feature 8 quarter-finalists vying for a shot at the newly minted Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko. The 8 men in the tournament fill out the bracket as follows; Brian Rogers vs Dan Cramer, Brett Cooper vs Norman Paraisy, Andreas Spang vs Doug Marshall and Mikkel Parlo vs Sultan Aliev.
Parlo vs Aliev is an interesting match-up pitting two undefeated European fighters against each other. Little is known about Aliev, and Parlo has only fought once in Bellator. These two are wild cards in this tournament and could end up making some shocking upsets. Also on that side of the bracket Spang, a former tournament runner-up collides with the former WEC champion Marshall. This one should be fun with guys known for being heavy hitters at 185.
Speaking of heavy hitters, KO of year nominee Brian Rogers returns for his third entry in a Bellator tournament against Cramer. A TUF veteran, Cramer will have a tough task facing Rogers who is arguably the biggest star in this tournament. Look for Cramer to avoid the stand-up game against the “Predator” who has won eight of his ten victories by knock out.
The last quarter-final is between Brett Cooper and Norman Paraisy. Since losing to now Bellator champion Shlemenko, Cooper has rattled off four wins in a row in dominant fashion, collecting two unanimous decisions and two KO’s. Paraisy has not fought since losing to eventual season six middleweight tournament winner Maiquel Falcao at Bellator 61. Paraisy should have the better stand-up of the two but look for Cooper to try and turn this one into a wrestling match.
Unless you have romantic plans for Thursday, Bellator 89 will be must see TV with a lot of interesting fights and a lot of big names within the organization that should dazzle in their debuts for the new home of Bellator MMA in Spike TV.
