By Ryan Young
One of the best MMA events of the year so far was the all-heavyweight UFC 146 pay-per-view back in May.
On Friday, Bellator looks to duplicate that excitement with its own version as four heavyweight quarter-final bouts comprise the main card of Bellator 75 at The Venue at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind.
With heavyweight champion Cole Konrad retiring last month, whoever emerges victorious from the tournament could take home not only the $100,000 grand prize, but also a shiny new piece of gold.
Let’s take a look at who is the running…
Main Event
Heavyweight Quarter-Final bout
Eric “The American Soldier” Prindle (7-2, 1 NC; 3-1, 1 NC in Bellator) vs. Thiago “Big Monster” Santos (11-1, 1 NC; 2-0 1 NC in Bellator)
For the fourth time these two Season 5 heavyweight tournament finalists are scheduled to meet one another.
They first fought at Bellator 59 in November 2011 and failed to produce a tourney winner after Santos landed a kick to the groin just 84 seconds into the bout rendering Prindle unable to continue and resulting in a no contest.
The rematch was booked for Bellator 61 in March but got pushed back a week due to Prindle suffering from flu-like symptoms. When it looked like the two would finally collide at Bellator 62, Santos came in 12 pounds heavy causing the fight being pulled and “The American Soldier” being crowned tourney champion.
Prindle, 36, was then submitted by Konrad one minute into his championship fight, his first lost since his MMA debut in 2008.
The 25-year-old Santos has been dominant inside the Bellator cage leading up to the Prindle saga taking out both Josh Burns and Neil Grove via first round rear naked choke. He says he’s now committed to a healthier diet, something the Brazilian hadn’t paid attention to early in his career.
There isn’t much to take away from their first encounter other than getting kicked in the groin by a 265-pound man really, really hurts. It’ll be interesting to see if Santos shows up in better shape because this one could make it out of the first round and whoever has more in the gas tank will likely win it.
That’s near impossible to predict though so I’ll go the safe route and say that Santos (five submission victories) catches a winded Prindle (both career losses by submission) early in the second.
Winner: Santos via second-round submission.
Heavyweight Quarter-Final bout
Brett “Da Grim” Rogers (12-4, 1 NC; 1-0 in Bellator) vs. Alexander Volkov (16-3; 0-0 in Bellator)
Former WAMMA and Strikeforce heavyweight title challenger Brett Rogers begins his quest to once again earn himself a shot at championship gold, this time in Bellator.
The 31-year-old made his Bellator debut in June stopping former friend and training partner Kevin Asplund via TKO doctor stoppage after two rounds. It was only his second win in his last seven outings, albeit a stretch that included fights with top-notch competitors Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett.
Volkov is a Russian M-1 Global product who will be making his North American debut. The 23-year-old is on a seven-fight winning streak with his most notable victory coming over former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez in February.
Rogers will be giving away three inches in height to the six-foot-seven youngster, but at 260 pounds he still outweighs his opponent but roughly 30 pounds. Both of these fighters enjoy mixing it up on the feet so expect this to be a predominately stand-up war.
The dangly Volkov should try to use his length and kicks to keep Rogers from getting on the inside for the knockout blow and if he does it successfully he could kickbox his way to a decision win. I believe Rogers will find his chin at some point though, and it’ll be all she wrote for Volkov.
Winner: Rogers via first round knockout.
Heavyweight Quarter-Final bout
Richard “Rare Breed” Hale (19-4-1; 4-1 in Bellator) vs. Mike “The Juggernaut” Wessel (12-4; 1-0 in Bellator)
Hale is making the rare move of going up a weight class after a stellar run at light heavyweight. In the Season 4 light-heavyweight tournament he advanced to the finals where he lost to Christian M’Pumbu in the only title fight the Bellator 205-pound division has ever put on. The 27-year-old responded to the defeat with two TKO stoppages victories over Carlos Flores and Josh Burns in 18 and 38 seconds, respectively.
The one-time UFC member Wessel defeated Ryan Martinez via split decision in his Bellator debut in August. It wasn’t a spectacular performance by any means but it did give “The Juggernaut” his fourth win in his last five fights.
While Hale is coming up in weight, at six-foot-four he’s actually four inches taller than Wessel, although he’ll likely enter significantly lighter than his fire-hydrant built adversary. Once again, as is the case with most heavyweights, both fighters have no qualms throwing leather. If the weight difference isn’t too overwhelming I like the speed of Hale to be enough to outscore Wessel in the stand-up.
Winner: Hale via unanimous decision.
Heavyweight Quarter-Final bout
Mark Holata (12-3, 3-1 BFC) vs. Vinicius “Spartan” Queiroz (5-2, 0-0 BFC)
Chute Boxe fighter Vinicius Queiroz looks to redeem himself for his last outing all the way back in October 2010 when he was submitted by Rob Broughton at UFC 120 and later tested positive for the steroid Stanozolol.
It won’t be easy against Holata, who holds wins over current and former UFC fighters Shawn Jordan, Carmelo Marrero and Abe Wagner. The 30-year-old had his eight-fight winning streak come to an emphatic end in the opening round of the Season 5 heavyweight tournament when he was knocked out in the first round by Ron Sparks, a loss he bounced back from with a submission of Wagner in May.
Few camps produce more aggressive fighters than Chute Boxe, and Queiroz fits that mould to a tee. He may suffer from some cage rust after being out of competition for two years, but I still see him out-striking Holata en route to the semifinals.
Winner: Queiroz via unanimous decision.
Bellator 74 results: We went 2-for-4 last week calling both Lyman Good’s unanimous decision and Michail Tsarev’s second round submission.
Ryan Young is the lead reporter for MMA360.ca and a regular contributor to sportsnet.ca’s MMA section. Follow him on Twitter @YoungRyan4.
