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With no opposition this week at all, the Bellator Fighting Championships is the sole focus of the MMA universe this Friday Night. The promotion has put together a good card to take advantage of the opportunity, with former champion Joe Warren in the top spot. The card will also feature the start of the lightweight tournament, which features a lot of top names in action.
Kicking off the action is a lightweight tournament opening round bout as Rich “No Love†Clementi (45-22-1) does battle with Ricardo Tirloni (15-4-0). Clementi made it to the semi-finals of the season seven lightweight tournament before losing to Marcin Held. Tirloni has already competed in three separate Bellator Lightweight Tournaments, never advancing past the semi-finals. The loser of this fight will most likely not be getting another tournament invite, but it will be Tirloni defeating the UFC veteran to advance.
More lightweight tournament opening round action is up next as Saad Awad (14-5-0) competes against Martin “.50 Cal†Stapleton (12-1-0). Awad made it to the finals of the season eight lightweight tournament before losing to David Rickels in the finals. Stapleton will be making his promotional debut in this tournament, plus has competed against UFC veteran Paul Sass. Awad was the Cinderella story in the last tournament, he will not be catching folks off guard in this one as he advances.
Another lightweight tournament opening round bout is up as John “The Natural†Alessio (34-16-0-1NC) faces Will “Ill Will†Brooks (10-1-0). Alessio has been winless since his most recent UFC release, which came after a loss to Shane Roller at UFC 148. Brooks made it to the semi-finals of the season eight lightweight tournament before losing to Saad Awad. The majority of this contest should be contest on the ground, which is where Brooks will pull the biggest upset in the tournament.
Up next is a lightweight tournament opening round bout as Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade†Davis (22-9-0-1NC) takes on Alexander “Tiger†Sarnavskiy (23-1-0). Davis made an auspicious promotional debut at Bellator 93, fighting Waachiim Spiritwolf to a no contest after an accidental eye poke. Sarnavskiy’s lone career loss came in the season seven lightweight tournament opening round, where he was defeated by Rich Clementi. The loss to Clementi aside, Sarnavskiy is one of the best lightweights in the promotion and he will get by Davis in the first round.
Headlining this card is a bantamweight tournament semi-final fight as Nick “The Big Hurt†Kirk (10-2-0) battles Joe Warren (8-3-0). Kirk is currently winless in Bellator competition, dropping fights to David Harris and Tony Zelinski respectively. Warren is a former Bellator Featherweight Champion and last defeated Owen Evinger at Bellator 80. Warren must win this fight if he is still to be a threat in Bellator and he will out wrestle Kirk to get the job done.
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