It’s been a long time coming for Josh Shockley‘s debut with Bellator. On Friday, his past tough luck paid off.
Shockley (6-0-1), an Indiana-based lightweight scheduled for a prelim fight at Bellator 36 in Shreveport, La., on Saturday, made weight for his bout against Kalvin Hackney without issue. Then things got weird.
Ferrid Kheder, booked to face Toby Imada as part of Bellator’s lightweight tournament quarterfinals, was so far off weight he didn’t even bother trying, sources told MMA Fighting. And since there was just one lightweight bout on the card’s prelims, Shockley was the beneficiary of some good news, for a change – a jump from the unaired prelims to a televised spot in the eight-man tournament.