At long last, details regarding Bellator‘s 10th season are being announced, and the first card, Bellator 111, is quite interesting. The California-based promotion will kick off its next wave of weekly cards with a new heavyweight tournament alongside a bantamweight title fight.
The title fight in question is between Eduardo Dantas and Rafael Silva.
Dantas is one of the best fighters outside the UFC and is arguably a top-five fighter in the bantamweight division. He most recently defeated training partner Marcos Galvao in February 2013 but had to sit out the rest of the year due to an ankle injury.
Silva, meanwhile, won the 2013 Summer Series by defeating former Strikeforce fighter and longtime Bellator veteran Anthony Leone. Silva owns an impressive 21-3 record in his career and tore up the Brazilian regional circuit before joining Bellator. He is one of the best finishers at 135 pounds and owns a notable win over flyweight standout John Lineker.
The winner of that fight will likely face off with Season 9 bantamweight tournament winner Joe Warren.
As for the heavyweight tournament, Bellator head honcho Bjorn Rebney tweeted out the bracket earlier today:
Don’t blink! @BellatorMMA HW 1st round! @SpikeTV. @Peter__Graham @LavarJohnson @970King @MouSiliga @AlexDragoVolkov pic.twitter.com/pHJdu0AniI
— Bjorn Rebney (@BjornRebney) January 9, 2014
For Bellator fans, these are mostly familiar faces. For the rest of MMA fans…not so much.
The winner of the tournament will face off with the winner of Vitaly Minakov vs. Cheick Kongo. When that fight will take place is yet to be announced.
The card will take place on March 7 in Thackerville, Okla.
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