Bellator MMA return to the Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane, Kansas for Bellator 139, headlined by a heavyweight contender bout between Cheick Kongo and former Bellator heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov.
Kongo (22-10-2) returns after his Bellator 139, split decision loss to “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal, a fight he took on relatively short notice. Lawal used his wrestling to grind out the victory over Kongo. snapping the Frenchman’s two fight winning streak in the promotion.
Effectively, Russia’s Volkov (24-5) is still the number one contender for the heavyweight belt.
His win over Blagoy Ivanov in the Season 10 Heavyweight Tournament Final put him in-line for a rematch with champion Vitaly Minakov. Although due to inactivity; and a split decision loss to Tony Johnson, those hopes were derailed.
Due to the lack of depth at heavyweight, the winner of this fight will no doubt find themselves re-matching dominant Minakov, despite rumours of his retirement.
In the Bellator 139 co-main event, David “The Caveman” Rickels faces John Alessio in a lightweight feature bout.
Bellator veteran Rickels (16-3) makes his first appearance since a decision win over Davi Ramos in October 2014, as he once again looks to push for a lightweight title fight.
Alessio (35-17-1 NC), a 53 fight veteran, holds the experience advantage in the fight, and will look to negate Rickels’s nasty striking game with his wrestling base; training out of Xtreme Couture.
Elsewhere, following the pull-out of Goiti Yamauchi, Pat Curran faces Emmanuel Sanchez (10-1) at Bellator 139.
Once a prominent champion, Curran (20-7) has recently struggled to maintain consistency, with three losses out of his previous four fights.
The two time featherweight champion holds victories over more than a handful of the sport’s biggest names, including Roger Huerta, Joe Warren and Patrício Freire.
The Team Curran man has been accused of being too inactive in his fights; but in a tough but winnable bout against Emmanuel Sanchez, it’s about re-establishing his once undeniable dominance.
Also, ahead of his return to kickboxing on September, 19 for Bellator: DYNAMITE ‘Stitch ’em Up’ Joe Schilling looks to erase his split loss to Rafael Carvalho at Bellator 136 when he faces Japan’s Hisaki Kato.
Bellator 139 Main Card
Heavyweight Cheick Kongo vs. Alexander Volkov
Lightweight David Rickels vs. John Alessio
Featherweight Pat Curran vs. Emmanuel Sanchez
Middleweight Joe Schilling vs. Hisaki Kato
Bellator 139 Preliminary Card
Featherweight Bubba Jenkins vs. Joe Wilk
Bantamweight Aaron Ely vs. Jeimeson Saudino
Lightweight Bobby Cooper vs. Pablo Villaseca
Heavyweight Augusto Sakai vs. Daniel Gallemore
Women’s Featherweight Iony Razafiarison vs. Bryanna Fissori
Heavyweight Alex Huddleston vs. Javy Ayala
Featherweight Greg Scott vs. Gaston Reyno
Heavyweight Derek Bohi vs. Frederick Brown
Lightweight Marcio Navarro vs. Cody Carrillo
