The Bellator 64 card is beginning to take shape, as the promotion recently signed former UFC The Ultimate Fighter cast member Mike “The Marine” Richman for the upcoming event at the Caesars Windsor Hotel & Casino in Ontario, Canada on April 7.
According to Richman’s manager Jeremy Bjornberg, who broke the news on Facebook, Richman will help bolster an already interesting looking fight card, as he steps in the cage across from former WEC veteran Chris Horodecki. The event will be headlined by the main event between welterweight champion Ben Askren and challenger Douglas Lima, which was announced just over a week ago.
Horodecki is just 24 years old, but he brings a world of experience into the cage, having already fought all over North America for the IFL, WEC and now Bellator Fighting Championships. He took advantage of his first fight for the promotion back in July 2011, when he defeated Chris Saunders, only to fight to a majority draw this past November in his second Bellator bout, against Mike Corey.
Victories over the likes of UFC talents, including Danny Downes and Bart Palaszewski, make Horodecki likely the toughest opponent that Richman has ever competed against as a professional. The 26-year-old former Marine has only been fighting since 2008, but what he lacks in big fight experience, he makes up for in confidence.
“I’m training with the best of the best, which has totally elevated my game,” Richman told Bleacher Report this past November regarding his team at The Academy in Minnesota. “I feel if I would’ve started my career training here, I would be 11-0, not 10-1.”
Richman also guaranteed back then that he would be fighting for a major promotion, whether it be the UFC or Bellator, in 2012. It didn’t take long before he, and his managers at Sterling Entertainment Group, turned that promise into a reality.
Now it’s time to prove that he deserves to stay.
“This has the potential to be a fight of the year,” Bjornberg said via Facebook. “Mike’s gonna make his presence known!”
Thanks to Sandy Hackenmuller of Fight to Finish Photography for the photo.
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