A middleweight bout between Canadian standout Cory MacDonald (12-2) and well-travelled veteran Brendan Seguin (23-17-1) and a welterweight scrap between former TFC champion Ryan Ford (17-4) and WEC veteran Luis Santos (50-7-1) have been added to Bellator’s May 4 Bellator 67 card, set for Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario. CagePotato.com learned of the MacDonald-Seguin pairing and confirmed the rumored Ford-Santos bout today from sources close to both bouts.
MacDonald has been relatively inactive the past two years, having only fought (and won) twice, but sources say the reason for his lack of action was a shortage of opponents willing to face him in Canada. The Kingston, Ontario native, who holds a win over UFC vet Edwin Dewees and seemed en route to a win over fellow Canuck Jonathan Goulet until a freak injury forced his corner to throw in the towel after the first round, will log time training for the bout at Tristar in Montreal. He decided to move to middleweight in the hopes of attracting more opposition and he’ll get a formidable opponent in Seguin who has fought a lion’s share of the sport’s toughest fighters.
“The Caucasian Devastation” holds wins over UFC vets Jake Ellenberger, Kyacey Uscola, Rob Kimmons and Goulet. During his 12-year career he also fought Denis Kang, Joe Doerksen, Dean Lister, Joey Villasenor and Martin Kampmann. Seguin hasn’t lost since dropping a decision to Forrest Petz in 2009.
Ford will finally make his Bellator debut on the card after legal and contract issues with his former manager, Mark Pavelich who owns the Maximum Fighting Championship put him at odds with the Chicago-based promotion after the Canadian promoter sent BFC a cease and desist letter claiming that “The Real Deal” was still an MFC fighter. It seems that both sides have settled their differences and are moving forward.
Arguably the biggest win of Ford’s career came against Karo Parisyan last May. Since then he has gone 2-1, including a surprise loss to David Hulett for the Aggression MMA welterweight strap in September.
Santos has the edge in experience over “The Real Deal” in the experience department, however, with 36 more fights. The husband of fellow fighter Carina Damm, “Sapo” won a hard-fought decision over Dan Hornbuckle in the opening round of Bellator’s season 5 tournament, only to be submitted via highlight-reel keylock by Ben Saunders in the second round.
No other bouts have been announced for the card.