mattandbenny

Bellator Season 7 is starting in a few months, and their signing some good talent already. Just gonna create a list of possible participants for each weight class.

Guys in blue are confirmed, and the guys below the line are a list of possible participants.


Heavyweight
Thiago Santos (10-1) vs. Eric Prindle (7-2)
Brett Rogers (11-4) vs. Alexander Volkov (16-3)
Richard Hale (19-4) vs. Mike Wessel (12-4)
Mark Holata (12-3) vs. Vinicius Queiroz (5-2)


Welterweight
Lyman Good (12-2) vs. Jimmy Wallhead (23-6)
Marius Zaromskis (18-6) vs. Nordine Taleb (8-1)
Andrey Koreshkov (10-0) vs. Jordan Smith (17-3)
Michail Tsarev (23-2) vs. Tim Welch (9-3)


Lightweight
Alexander Sarnavskiy (20-0) vs. Rich Clementi (44-21)
Dave Jansen (17-2) vs. Magomed Saadulaev (14-1)
Marcin Held (13-2) vs. Murad Machaev (9-0)
Ricardo Tirloni (14-2) vs. Rene Nazare (10-2)


Featherweight
Wagney Fabiano (14-3) vs. Akop Stepanyan (12-3)
Rad Martinez (11-2) vs. Nazareno Malegarie (22-2)
Mike Richman (12-1) vs. Jeremy Spoon (12-1)
Cody Bolinger (13-2) vs. Shahbulat Shamhalaev (9-1)

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edlavis88

Daley Vs Saunders or Daley Vs Zaromskis would be great fights to make. I think Daley could do very well in BFC, the Welterweight division has a lot more pure strikers and fewer great wrestlers than the UFC's 170lb div.

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FixedPartialArt

Problem is he just lost a stand-up fight vs. Misaki, would have lost primarily a stand-up fight vs. a blown up LW in Masvidal had Jorge not foolishly attempted a TD late in Alves vs. Kampmann style, and of course he succumbed to Diaz albeit after having an outstanding striker on the cage links. Another problem for him is that Bellator's WW strikers are really good. I think Koreshkov, Lima, Good, Foster, and Indio are better than him on the feet because of diversity and straighter strikes. Daley just has the power advantage over all but Lima. All but maybe Good are better on the ground also.

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I think what projects to be a great WW tourney is close to set in stone now. The picks will probably be made from this group: Lima, Good, Koreshkov, Foster, Daley, Indio, Taleb, Wallhead, Saunders, Amoussou/Baker loser. I don't think Ford can travel to the States, Marcus Lelo clearly hasn't done enough, and Zaromskis is merely an entertainer until he racks up a few quality wins.

That will be the best tourney or lightweight. Just about everybody in the group of possibles could reasonably be considered contenders. Tirloni has already been invited, which I think is just considering who he lost to and how highly rated as a prospect he was. E.J. Brooks will be there. He's been doing really well on the prelims. They also supposedly have another really good signing for the division in their back pocket.

mattandbenny

I doubt Pereira will be in this welterweight tournament after his performance last time out, when Rickels impressed and Saunders always puts on a fun fight. Also would love to see Foster in the tournament, but he's gonna have major problems getting licenced. Also not heard of anything of Wallhead to do with Bellator lately, just lots of rumoured BAMMA fights.

I agree that the Welterweight and Lightweight divisions look the most exciting. Also looking forward to the new look Heavyweight division.

Bellator needs to work on their Bantamweight division, the way things are i think thats looking like the one thats gonna miss out, and the 5 tourneys will be Heavyweight, Middleweight, Welterweight, Lightweight & Featherweight.

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FixedPartialArt

Rickels is a lock for me, but at LW. Supposedly that's where he always wanted to fight but Bellator preferred WW because they had less depth there. Obviously that's changed.

I thought that was an incredibly disappointing lack of heart/urgency shown by Indio, but IMO he still won, against a guy who might win the tourney. He was already told he's in if he wants to wait or doesn't lose beforehand.

Wallhead purportedly was given the same assurance.

As far as Foster, I think he's already been licensed and maybe has a fight lined up, from following his Tweets.

FixedPartialArt

The season will kick off on September 28th with their next installment of the welterweight tournament. The first match-up for that competition which has been reported is Lyman Good vs. Judo Jim Wallhead.

kantowrestler

Well this should be a good last season on MTV2. Honestly they need to pick a better fight night then Fridays. Also need to stop going head to head with the Ultimate Fighter.

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kantowrestler

Going head to head with the Ultimate Fighter isn't a great thing.

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mattandbenny

Welterweight brackets announced.

Lyman Good (12-2) vs. Jimmy Wallhead (23-6)
Marius Zaromskis (18-6) vs. Nordine Taleb (8-1)
Andrey Koreshkov (10-0) vs. Jordan Smith (17-3)
Michail Tsarev (23-2) vs. Tim Welch (9-3)


Overall, pretty happy with the brackets. Good-Wallhead and Zaromskis-Taleb are great fights. Glad Koreshkov is in there and Tsarev is a suprising and great addition. Not sure why Jordan Smith is getting a call back though, and Welch's spot could have been taken by someone better - Daley, Ford, Saunders, Baker, Rickets etc. But pretty good line-up. I fancy a last 4 of Good, Taleb, Koreshkov & Tsarev.

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kantowrestler

Now who was it that said Zaromskis was never going to be in a Bellator tournament?

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