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Bellator heavyweight champ Cole Konrad retires, status of belt unknown

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Suddenly, Bellator is without a heavyweight champ.

Cole Konrad, a two-time NCAA wrestling champ who transitioned to MMA and dominated the competition in the tournament-based promotion, is for now retiring from the sport.

Plans to find a new champion are unclear at the moment. The news first was reported by Twincities.com and subsequently confirmed to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) by a source close to the promotion.

The Twincities.com report said Konrad, 28, is leaving fighting to become a financial trader at a Minnesota-based firm that supplies ingredients to the feed, pet food, food processing and chemical industries. Konrad will specialize in trading milk products.

Bellator officials declined comment on Konrad's retirement.

Konrad (9-0 MMA, 7-0 BFC), who won his NCAA titles while at the University of Minnesota, made his MMA debut in 2010 and earned two wins before signing with Bellator. He went on to fight in the promotion's inaugural heavyweight tournament and swept the field to become the Bellator heavyweight champion.

He defended his title in March with a 60-second submission win over Eric Prindle.

MMAJunkie

Who saw this coming.

I didn't see it coming but it by no means surprises me. Bellator is a joke and this is what happens when you have a dude with less than 10 pro fights fighting once per year for 50k at best. He takes his college education and gets a real ******* job.

He had the option to jump to the UFC after his contract. He must just not want to make it his career.

Shame, he had real potential. Sure his fights were boring, but he's still a baby in his MMA career, and his stand up was starting to come along.

Just when his skills were starting to come together he does this. It sucks but I guess good on him for getting a decent job where there is zero physical risk. When an MMA fighter retires what really do they have left at the end of it?

Good luck to him.

Cole was the only HW Bellator fighter I watched.

The rest look like fat, drunk bar brawlers.. They really need to take a long look at that divison and get some fighters in there that the fans can take seriously...

Quote:

Originally Posted by _RIVAL_ (Post 1626277)

You mean like this? :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by HitOrGetHit (Post 1626284)

You mean like this? :D

Lmaooo! yeah.. :(

He had the option to jump to the UFC after his contract. He must just not want to make it his career.