With Bellator MMA scrapping its pay-per-view plans for next week’s Bellator 106 event, one main-card fight has been pulled from the lineup and moved to a headlining spot on a later card.
Cheick Kongo (19-8-2 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) today announced his Season 9 heavyweight tournament final with fellow ex-UFC fighter Vinicius Queiroz (7-3 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) has been moved to Bellator 107.
Bellator 107 takes place Nov. 8 at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla. The main card airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.
Kongo vs. Queiroz, which concludes the four-man tournament, was slated to kick off next week’s PPV broadcast. But with would-be headliner Tito Ortiz injured and forced out of a fight with Quinton Jackson, Bellator officials scrapped the PPV plans and moved the card to Spike TV.
Kongo, who’s ranked No. 15 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA heavyweight rankings, recently fought for the first time since his UFC release and advanced to the tourney final with a second-round TKO of Mark Godbeer at Bellator 102. It moved the Frenchman to 5-2-1 in his past eight fights and marked his 11th knockout in 19 career wins.
Queiroz, who fought once under the UFC banner, is now 2-1 with Bellator following a quick 23-second knockout of Lavar Johnson at Bellator 102. Queiroz, whose lone Bellator loss came to now-champ Alexander Volkov, has six knockouts in seven career wins.
The Kongo vs. “Spartan” winner earns a title shot.
For more on Bellator 106 and Bellator 107, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.
(Pictured: Cheick Kongo)
view original article >>