Bellator Fighting Championships bantamweight champion Zach ‘Fun Size’ Makovsky (13-2) is watching the Season Five Bantamweight Tournament with great interest, trying to determine which of the four remaining fighters will face him for his title.
This seasons semi-finalists include Alexis Vila, Eduardo Dantas, Marcos Galvao, and Ed West who all won their respective bouts last month at Bellator 51.
Despite his thoughts on who his future opponent may be, Makovsky has his fight to worry about, meeting Ryan Roberts this weekend in Atlantic City, New Jersey in a “Super Fight” at Bellator 54.
Speaking to MMAMania.com, ‘Fun Size’ was asked about the season five tournament semi-finalists, noting his surprise at who moved on after the first round.
What did you think of these four bantamweight winners that came out of the quarterfinals at Bellator 51?
Zach Makovsky: I think there were a couple things that surprised me and a couple things I expected. I was surprised by the way the Dantas – Wilson Reis fight went. I really felt Wilson had the style to beat Dantas. I mean, I admittedly haven’t seen too much of Dantas but I thought Wilson would have the ability to take him down. I didn’t think he’d be able to submit him or anything like that but I thought that he would definitely be able to control the action on the ground. Wilson went for a takedown but didn’t really repeatedly try to take him down. It looked like he wanted to strike a little more which I really don’t think is his strength especially against a taller, solid striker like Dantas. It didn’t work out for him. Dantas looked good. Very long, crisp, clean strikes. He was very composed for his first fight in Bellator and for only being 22 years old so I was impressed with him.I was obviously impressed with Vila’s power. It’s hard to judge a guy on a one minute fight but he came at Warren and connected, hurt him earlier and then caught him with that big hook while Warren was kinda reaching out, trying to grab ahold of him. Vila’s clearly got some power. He’s clearly a guy you do not want to let hit you cleanly but I think it’s hard to judge him because we haven’t seen too much of him. I think Warren’s the first really credentialed fighter that he’s fought so I’d really like to see more of Vila but he did look very good.
I thought Ed West looked good too. He definitely played his style of game. I think him and Dantas should be really interesting. Vila should have a good chance to beat Galvao because I think Galvao will have trouble getting it to ground and Vila hits harder in the stand-up. I think whoever wins out of Dantas or West could both give Vila problems in the finals.