Sergei Kharitonov believes next fight will be Roy Nelson

Bellator fighter Sergei Kharitonov spoke in an interview with Russian sports journalist and editor of sportbox.ru, Yaroslav Stepanov on Tuesday. In the interview, he claimed that he is “very sure” that in his next Bellator MMA appearance he will take on UFC-veteran, and Bellator MMA’s newest acquisition; Roy “Big Country” Nelson.

Kharitonov also believes that the promotion signed Nelson specifically to fight Kharitonov.

Sergei said today in interview. We talked in the Studio. pic.twitter.com/MMZmukcgjg

— Yaroslav Stepanov (@wonders4341) June 20, 2017

Sergey Kharitonov: I'm sure that my next fight in @BellatorMMA will be against @roynelsonmma. #Bellator #mma pic.twitter.com/NMTfFHYJ5n

— Yaroslav Stepanov (@wonders4341) June 20, 2017

Kharitonov (25-6) is riding a 2-fight win streak following a rough Bellator MMA debut against Javy Ayala. Since then he KO’d Chase Gormley in the Bellator cage, and just this past weekend at M-1 Challenge 80 he faced fellow veteran Sokoudjou, knocking him out in under a minute.

Nelson (22-14) has only won three of his last ten bouts, all of which took place under the UFC banner. In early 2016 he halted a three-fight losing streak by defeating Jared Rosholt via decision. Since then, he has exchanged wins and losses, losing to Derrick Lewis in July of last year, then defeating Antonio Silva via TKO two months later, only to lose a one-sided unanimous decision to former Bellator champion Alexander Volkov at UFC on FOX 24 in April of this year.

This was one of the fights fans wanted most after it was confirmed that “Big Country” had signed with Bellator MMA, and it looks like we very well may see it.

Let’s see if we get official confirmation in the coming weeks!