In what is expected to be Eddie Alvarez’s final fight with Bellator, the former 155-pound champ has a location and date for his clash with Patricky “Pitbull” Freire: Friday, October 12 in Windsor, Canada.
Alvarez (23-3) and Freire (10-3) will headline Bellator 76, an event that will also feature the promotion’s latest featherweight tournament.
Alvarez is coming off a first round TKO win over Shinya Aoki in April and has lost just once in the last four years, his title-losing effort to Michael Chandler in November 2011. Freire has lost two of his last three and was last seen being submitted by Lloyd Woodard in March.
In the four tournament quarterfinals, there are some familiar names to hardcore MMA fans as 37-year-old Wagnney Fabiano (14-3) returns to action after being on the sidelines for nearly two years. He faces Akop Stepanyan (12-3), an Armenian talent making his Bellator debut on a 12-fight win streak.
Rad Martinez — made famous by an 2011 ESPN Outside The Lines piece — takes his 12-2 mark into his tournament debut against Nazareno Malegarie (22-2). Martinez has won his last three and is 2-0 in BFC, while Malegarie returns to Bellator with a 1-2 promotional record.
The final two fights feature Bellator vet Jeremy Spoon (12-1) vs. Mike Richman (12-1), who made his name by knocking out Chris Horodecki in April, and Shahbulat Shamhalaev (9-1-1) vs. Cody Bollinger (13-2) in a battle of debuting Bellator fighters.
For news on their upcoming heavyweight tournament, click after the jump.
With Cole Konrad’s unexpected retirement this week, Bellator is now without a heavyweight champion. While they haven’t announced if this fall’s tournament winner will earn the vacant belt, MMA Junkie reported some of the participants in the field for Bellator 75’s October 5th heavyweight tournament quarterfinals.
In addition to Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos which we knew about in August, Brett Rogers will now face Alexander Volkov, an injury replacement for Ruslan Magomedov. The 6’7″ Volkov will be making his Bellator debut and has won seven in a row, including a decision win over Ricco Rodriguez.
In addition, eternal Bellator tournament participant Richard Hale (19-4-1) returns to face Mike Wessel (12-4-1). Hale has won his last two by T/KO while Wessel picked up a decision win over Ryan Martinez this summer to earn a slot. In the final quarterfinal, Mark Holata (12-3) faces Vinicius Queiroz (5-2), who was last seen getting submitted by Rob Broughton at UFC 120 in October 2010. He tested positive for Stanozolol and was released from the UFC.
About the author
