Cheick Kongo meets Mark Godbeer at Bellator 101 in Portland

Former UFC heavyweight Cheick Kongo will make his Bellator MMA debut later this month.

The promotion on Saturday announced during its season opener, Bellator 98, that Kongo (18-8-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) will meet Mark Godbeer (8-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) at Bellator 101. Although not announced by Bellator, Godbeer-Kongo is expected to be part of the Season 9 heavyweight tournament.

Bellator 101 takes place Sept. 27 at The Moda Center at Rose Quarter (formerly known as Rose Garden) in Portland.

Kongo lost two of his final three bouts in the UFC with knockout setbacks to Roy Nelson at UFC 159 and Mark Hunt at UFC 144. Overall, the Frenchman went 11-6-1 in the UFC, but when it came time to re-sign with the promotion, the two sides when their separate ways. He remains one of the more feared strikers in the sport.

Godbeer will fight for the first time since March 2012, when he got a first-round win at BAMMA 9. In November 2011, he was stopped by Anthony Taylor at a Supremacy Fight Challenge event in his native England – the first loss of his career. Before that, he had a seven-fight winning streak – all stoppages.

The Bellator 101 card now includes:

MAIN CARD (Spike TV, 9 p.m. ET)

• Mark Godbeer vs. Cheick Kongo
• Rich Clementi vs. Rob Sinclair – lightweight tournament opening round
• Saad Awad vs. Martin Stapleton – lightweight tournament opening round
• John Alessio vs. Will Brooks – lightweight tournament opening round
• Marcus Davis vs. Alexander Sarnavskiy – lightweight tournament opening round

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, 7 p.m. ET)

• Marcin Held vs. Ricardo Tirloni
• Tyson Jeffries vs. Joe Pacheco
• Nathan Coy vs. Andy Uhrich
• Peter Aspenwal vs. Jeremiah Riggs
• Brent Primus vs. Scott Thometz
• Brent Alvarez vs. Austin Springer

For the latest on Bellator 101, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Cheick Kongo)