Bellator 161: Kongo vs. Johnson

Lots of eyes are on Bellator lately, during their last event they announced the signing of Rory MacDonald and on the day of Bellator 161, they signed Americas favorite Bad Guy, Chael Sonnen. Tonight, the heavyweights are the main event along with a certain bantamweight former champion that fights best when odds are against him. Also, the American debut of Anastasia Yankova (3–0) who is currently undefeated in her young MMA career faces Veta Arteaga (2–0) who also has yet to taste defeat.

Cheick Kongo (24–10–2) faces Tony Johnson (10–2) in the main event. Kongo has a noticeable height and reach advantage over Johnson so unless the shorter man can apply pressure and get inside of Kongo’s reach; he may be in for a hard night. Not impossible for Johnson, half his wins come by way of knockout and the other half by decision. Most of Kongo’s losses are by decision so the fight could be closer than fans think.

“The Baddest Man on the Planet” Joe Warren (13–5) does not stop trying to make his way back to the bantamweight title. Warren does his best when people count him out and after suffering his loss to Darion Caldwell, Warren is likely looking to win and win convincingly. His opponent, Sirwan Kakai (12–4) has the tools to beat Warren but all four of his losses are by decision, the method in which Warren has secured most of his victories. This fight could be a fight of the night candidate since outside of their age; both men are almost equally matched to cancel each other out.

There are probably more announcements to come during the live broadcast regarding the signing of Sonnen so make sure you tune in. See the main card broadcast info below:

Main Card: (Live on SPIKE — 9 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. CT)

Cheick Kongo vs. Tony Johnson

Joe Warren vs. Sirwan Kakai

Derek Campos vs. Djamil Chan

Anastasia Yankova vs. Veta Arteaga

Edward Carbajal is a contributing writer for MMA at Page2sports.com and Frontproof Media. You can follow Edward on Twitter@Carbazelor at his websiteTheBlogBoardJungle.com. Check out hispodcast on Spreaker.