Bellator 139 is in the books, as the show went down last night on SpikeTV with a main event that saw UFC veteran Cheick Kongo upend former heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov via unanimous decision. For the former Bellator Heavyweight Champion Volkov, it is a second loss in a row and a big setback.
Volkov was favored heading into the fight, but Kongo was able to control the fight and he scored a big cut with an elbow that set the tone for the fight. Kongo bounces back from a loss to King Mo Lawal in his last outing, and he may be back in the title picture. As for Volkov, at 6 ft. 7 in., he came in at a heavy 242 lbs, which may rule out a drop to light heavyweight in the future.
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The co-main event between David Rickels and John Alessio turned into a no-contest about halfway through the first round when Alessio took an illegal knee and could not continue. Rickels was on his way to a first round stoppage, however the ending was bittersweet in this one. For Sanchez, he loses a six-fight winning streak and is now 2-1 in Bellator and 10-2 overall.
Former Featherweight Champion Pat Curran got back on the winning track with a unanimous decision win over Emmanuel Sanchez that saw him win every round. For Curran, it stops a two fight skid.
At middleweight, Japan’s Hisaki Kato announced himself by knocking out tough Joe Schilling with a superman punch at the start of the second round. For Hisaki, it was a highlight reel type of debut, which is exactly what he wanted. For Schilling, who falls to 2-5, he was scheduled to appear in September for Bellator in a proposed match against Paul Daley, but that may fall by the wayside. For Bellator, it behooves them to get Kato more fights as soon as possible, as Kato walked into the fight a confident underdog.
Bellator also announced the signing of former UFC contender Josh Koscheck, adding him to their welterweight division. Up next for Bellator is their 140th show, scheduled for July 17 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut with a scheduled main event featuring welterweight champion Douglas Lima’s title defense against Andrey Koreshov.
