Former Bellator season three tournament winner Neil ‘Goliath’ Grove (11-4-1) saw his quest for a rematch with heavyweight champ Cole Konrad evaporate earlier this month when he was eliminated by Mike Hayes in the opening quarterfinals of the Bellator Season 5 Heavyweight Tournament.
Grove has now been given a second chance as semifinalist Blagoi Ivanov (5-0, 1NC) has been forced out of the tournament due to injury.
The ‘Goliath’ is now set to meet Thiago ‘Big Monster’ Santos (9-1) at the end of the month at the upcoming Bellator 56 event in Kansas.
Bellator 56 is set to take place on October 29 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas and besides featuring the heavyweight tournament semifinals, is headlined by a welterweight title bout between champ Ben Askren versus season four welterweight tournament winner Jay Hieron.
Grove lost a split decision to Hayes on October 1st in the main event of the Bellator 52 event, putting the South African fighter at 1-2 in his last three bouts. The win, a first round TKO victory over Zak Jensen last July, put him back into the plus column after losing to Bellator champ Cole Konrad one year ago at Bellator 32.
Santos has had a roller coaster ride getting to this point of the tournament. The Brazilian was to have taken part in the opening round of Season Five, but due to travel issues was unable to make the tournament opener at Bellator 52. He did make it Stateside and fought in a tournament reserve bout at Bellator 53, where he earned a first round submission over Josh Burns. With that win he was the promotions choice to replace Hayes, who was issued with a 60-day suspension for an eye injury and therefore, pulled from the tournament.