It appears that the featherweight quarterfinal matchups for Bellator Fighting Championships upcoming fourth season are set with all eight participants appearing on the upcoming March 19, Bellator 37 card at the Lucky Star Casino in Concho, Oklahoma.
The unofficial news was first reported by Sherdog.com, who learned of the matchups from sources close to the event. They have confirmed that all four featherweight tournament bouts will air live on MTV 2.
The matchups for the quarterfinals are as follows:
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Georgi “Insane” Karakhanyan (14-2-1) vs. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (14-1)
Zac George (20-3) vs. Wilson Reis (11-2)
Eric Larkin (3-0) vs. Kenny “The Tooth Fairy” Foster (8-2)
Daniel Straus (14-3) vs. Nazareno “Naza” Malegarie (19-0)
Karakhanyan participated in the season 2 featherweight tournament and was eliminated by Joe Warren at Bellator 18. He fought again, in a non-tournament bout, against Anthony Leone at Bellator 28, winning a unanimous decision. Meanwhile his opponent Freire, made it to the season 2 final only to lose to Warren at Bellator 23, ending his undefeated streak. Freire’s three fights in the season 2 tournament were his first bouts with Bellator.
George will make his Bellator debut as a participant in the season 4 tournament and enters on a six fight win streak. He hasn’t fought in over a year-and-a-half, with his last bout in October of 2009, earning a submission win at a C3 Fights event. Reis, meanwhile, will participate in his third Bellator tournament having fought in the first and second seasons. Each time he was defeated in the semifinal rounds. His last cage appearance was at Bellator 33 in a non-tournament match, earning a split decision over Deividas Taurosevi?ius.
Larkin is a relative newcomer with one Bellator appearance last year, a fist round submission win over Marcus Andrusia at Bellator 28. All three of his professional wins were in 2010 with three different promotions. Foster also has one fight with Bellator, a unanimous decision win over Lester Caslow at Bellator 33 last October. The win put him back in the win column after a loss in June at an Extreme Fight Club event.
Straus enters the tournament on a ten fight win streak, with his last victory coming last September at the Shark Fights 13 event. He earned a unanimous decision win over Karen Darabedyan. All 17 of his professional fights occurred from 2009-2010. Malegarie is undefeated and makes his Bellator debut as Straus does. His last fight was in November of last year, earning a submission win at a Colizeu Fight Championship event.