Bellator: British Invasion Update
by Brian Woodman Jr. on 02/26/15
Mohegan Sun in Uncasville is preparing for Bellator: British Invasion on Feb. 27 and four Connecticut fighters will be among those competing.
The main event will be a title fight between between light heavyweight champion Emanuel Newton (25-7) and challenger Liam McGeary (9-0). The main card will also include; a welterweight fight between Paul Daley (35-13) and Andre Santos (37-9); a heavyweight fight between Cheick Kongo (22-9-2) and "King Mo" Lawal (14-4); a light heavyweight fight between Rameau Sokoudjou (16-12) and Linton Vassell (14-4); and a light heavyweight fight between Michael Page (7-0) and Curtis Millender (7-0).
While it is always exciting to see big names like Lawal and Kongo return to Connecticut, Bellator's push to bring bigger names like these two and Daley into their cards has pushed fighters like Matt Bessette of Hartford and Brennan Ward of Waterford down to the preliminary card. Bessette (13-6), who established himself among Connecticut MMA fans as a lightweight with Reality Fighting, made it to the semi-finals of Bellator's Season 10 featherweight tournament. Ward (9-3) entered Bellator's Season Nine middleweight tournament as a replacement and wound up winning it before losing to then-middleweight champion Alexender Shlemenko. Some fans feel that Bessette and Ward both desrve to be on the main card that will air at 9 p.m. on Spike TV rather than the undercard that will appear on Spike.com.
Bessette will fight Josh Laberge (9-4) and Ward will fight Jesse Juarez (22-9). Josh Diekman (15-5) of Groton, who is fast becoming a local favorite, will fight Raphael Butler (8-1-1) in a heavyweight bout. Blair Tugman (6-5) of North Haven will fight Marvin Maldanado (2-2) in a bantamweight bout.
Other preliminary bouts include a middleweight fight between Jason Butcher (8-1) and Tamdan McCrory (12-3), and a welterweight fight between Bobby Flynn (4-2) and Neiman Gracie (2-0).
At around 11 p.m., following the end of the main card, lightweight Dean Hancock will make his professional debut against Michael Mangan (0-2).
