Bellator 102's Rafael Silva confident team has right approach for Leone

Anthony Leone has come quite a long way in just three years since a rather rough stretch of fights. Rafael Silva knows this.

Silva (20-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) and Leone (13-5 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) meet Friday to crown Bellator’s “Summer Series” bantamweight tournament champion, and the winner will be next in line to fight for the 135-pound title.

Bellator 102 takes place at California’s Visalia Convention Center with a main card that airs on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET following Spike.com prelims (7:30 p.m. ET). Silva and Leone are part of the five-fight main card that features four tournament semifinals along with their tourney final.

Leone for a little more than a year between 2010 and 2011 had a stretch with five losses in six fights – including a submission loss in the WEC to current UFC interim bantamweight titleholder Renan Barao, a pair of Bellator losses and a loss for Strikeforce.

But the New Yorker has put those losses in the rearview mirror with four straight wins, including three in a row for Bellator. Included in that run is a split-decision win over former bantamweight champ Zach Makovsky. And in July, he submitted Frank Baca at Bellator 97.

Silva knows Leone’s confidence is riding high.

“Without a doubt, he’s very motivated and confident now,” “Morcego” told MMAjunkie.com. “I’m sure he’s studying all my strong and weak points. I’m sure he wants to win just as much as I do.”

A win sets up a shot at champion Eduardo Dantas, so Silva knows the 12-fight winning streak he brings into the fight is a big deal. But against Leone, with what’s on the line, he’s in for the biggest fight of his life.

His Brazilian Renovacao Fight Team has been game planning and working at length with this in mind, Silva said.

“My head coach, Marcelo Brigadeiro, has studied his fights and he’s letting me know what to do and what to avoid,” Silva said. “He formulates the strategy and I follow it. We have lots of a very talented athletes in our team who specialize in various facets of the sport. It’s a great mix. I’m highly confident.”

That confidence increased in July when he submitted Rodrigo Lima in his Bellator debut in the tournament semifinals. The stoppage came in the third round with a rear-naked choke, but it wasn’t easy.

But the Brazilian seems to be taking a hard work pays off type of mentality.

He believes that will culminate tonight.

“It was a very difficult and hotly contested fight,” Silva said of his win over Lima to get him into the finals against Leone. “He’s also very complete and he had already been in Bellator twice before. Gladly I was successful in pursing our strategy by being aware of his strong and weak points. It all went well. It all worked out perfectly.

“I just came home and went back to training. I have high confidence in my team. I’m sure I’ll have a good fight against Leone and that it’s going to be a war.”

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