Bellator returns to San Jose, California tonight with a massive fight card, headlined by arguably their biggest fight yet.
The greatest heavyweight fighter of all time Fedor Emelianenko will make his long-awaited Bellator MMA debut as he takes on one of the best pure athletes in the heavyweight division in the form of heavy-handed Matt Mitrione. This will be Fedor’s first fight in the United States since 2011. And it also sees him return to the same arena, the SAP Center formerly known as the HP Pavilion, where he was defeated for the first time in a decade by Fabricio Werdum in 2010.
‘Bellator 172: Fedor vs. Mitrione’ Live Results
The co-main event sees one of the more fresh and intriguing match-ups the Bellator lightweight division has offered in quite some time. Bellator mainstay Patricky “Pitbull” Freire will look to knock out San Jose’s own Josh Thomson. Thomson returns home to the building that has seen him do many big things, like win & defend his Strikeforce lightweight title multiple times in the past.
Also on the main card; France’s Cheick Kongo faces Englishman Oli Thompson. Josh Koscheck will make his promotional debut against Brazil’s Mauricio Alonso. And flyweights Brooke Mayo and Veta Arteaga meet in a battle of women’s prospects.
The eleven-fight prelim portion of the card is also quite exciting. Some of the notable match-ups include; James Terry taking on JC Llamas. Flyweight prospect Anthony Do takes on Bobby Escalante. Elite striker Gaston Bolanos makes his MMA debut vs. Abner Perez. And Team Fedor’s Anatoly Tokov makes his Bellator MMA debut against Francisco France.
Main Card (Spike TV – 9:00PM ET / 6:00PM PT)
- Fedor Emelianenko vs. Matt Mitrione
- Josh Thomson vs. Patricky Freire
- Cheick Kongo vs. Oli Thompson
- Josh Koscheck vs. Mauricio Alonso
- Brooke Mayo vs. Veta Arteaga
Preliminary Card (Spike.com – 7:00PM ET / 4:00PM PT)
- JC Llamas vs. James Terry
- Cesar Gonzalez vs. Nikko Jackson
- Luis Vargas vs. Juan Cardenas
- Anthony Do vs. Bobby Escalante
- Jeremy Murphy vs. Matt Ramirez
- Zach Andrews vs. JJ Okanovich
- Justin Tenedora vs. Roque Reyes
- Anatoly Tokov vs. Francisco France
- Martin Sano vs. Diego Herzog
- Gaston Bolanos vs. Abner Perez
- Abraham Vaesau vs. Dominic Sumner
