Bellator returns to its regular stomping ground of Thackerville, Okla. for Bellator 233 on Friday night. A card packed with rising contenders looks set to produce a crop of hungry potential challengers for championship gold in early 2020.
Two middleweight finishers go head-to-head in the main event, while one of the light heavyweight division’s big entertainers looks to bounce back against a dangerous debuting submission ace. There’s also a battle of women’s featherweights that could produce a future title challenger at 145 pounds, and a pair of twins looking to capture victories on the same card.
Here are our burning questions ahead of this weekend’s big show:
Which middleweight will emerge as the next big contender?
The main event in Thackerville looks set to deliver a classic grappler vs., striker matchup as dueling middleweight contenders John Salter and Costello van Steenis face off for the right to be called the middleweight division’s next emerging contender.
Salter’s form since making his Bellator debut in 2015 has been nothing short of outstanding. The North Carolina native has lost just once inside the Bellator cage – to current champion Rafael Lovato Jr. – but has otherwise been dominant as he has torn through the competition, using his dominant ground game to produce five submission finishes and one win via ground and pound TKO.
While Salter (16-4 MMA, 6-1 BMMA) has looked like the real deal on the ground, his opponent has looked every inch a contender on the feet.
Van Steenis (12-1 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) has built his reputation on finishing his opponents, and has nine stoppage wins to his name. Five of those finishes came by way to submission, but it’s more likely that the Dutchman – a protegé of former Bellator champion Gegard Mousasi – will look to keep things standing, where he’ll bid to even up his finishing record by securing a fifth victory by KO.
Will Salter be able to impose his dominant grappling game, or will van Steenis fight smart, use his own skills to keep the fight standing and punish the American on his feet?
It should be a fascinating contest.
Can “King Mo” finish his career with a bang?
It’s been a tricky run of late for former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed Lawal, and after telling MMA Junkie that this weekend’s fight would be his last, the man known to his legion of fans simply as “King Mo” knows he needs a big performance if he has any hopes of finishing his career with a win.
Lawal (21-9 MMA, 10-6 BMMA) takes on the debuting Andrew Kapel in a bout that many will see as a bounce-back fight, as the 38-year-old looks to snap a three-fight, three-TKO, losing streak following defeats to Ryan Bader, Liam McGeary and Jiri Prochazka.
Despite those defeats, it’s worth noting that they haven’t come against anything less than elite opposition. Bader is a current two-division champion, while McGeary is a former Bellator 205-pound champ. Prochazka, meanwhile, is the king of Rizin’s light heavyweight division.
Now matched against in-form submission specialist Kapel (14-6 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), Lawal faces an opponent whose threat comes largely on the ground. Kapel has 10 submission finishes to his name, and has gone to the scorecards just twice in his career.
Will Lawal end his career on a high and halt the four-fight win streak of the Minneapolis native, or will Kapel kick off his Bellator career by taking a big-name scalp?
Will Leslie Smith make it two out of two in the Bellator cage?
After a two-year-hiatus from active duty, Leslie Smith is back in business.
“The Peacemaker” (11-7-1 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) claimed a hard-fought majority decision victory over Sinead Kavanagh at Bellator 224 in July to pick up where she left off in the UFC and extend her winning run to three in a row. Now she’s set to face Arlene Blencowe, and she hopes she can start to build some serious momentum in the promotion’s women’s featherweight division.
Blencowe (12-7 MMA, 5-3 BMMA) will be no pushover for Smith, however. The Australian’s only defeats inside the Bellator cage have come against elite-level opposition, one to former Strikeforce bantamweight champion Marloes Coenen and two against current Bellator featherweight champion Julia Budd. Notably, her most recent loss against Budd was a split-decision after she pushed the champion to the limit at Bellator 189 in December 2012.
The New South Wales native has picked up a pair of back-to-back finishes since then, and is in impressive form heading into this weekend’s fight with Smith. Both women are veterans of the sport, both are in form and both love to stand and trade.
It’s a combination that could deliver one of the most crowd-pleasing fights of the night, but who will prevail?
Will it be a double celebration for the Fortune twins in Thackerville?
We could see a rare moment indeed at Bellator 233, with a pair of brothers set to compete on the same card, a feat even Bellator’s long-tenured “Pitbull” brothers haven’t managed to accomplish in their careers with the promotion. To make it even more special, the two brothers set for action this weekend are twins.
Both Tyrell Fortune and Tyree Fortune are undefeated and have high hopes for runs that will eventually lead them to championship success, and this weekend the two siblings get the chance to make their next steps forward on the same night.
Rising heavyweight prospect Tyrell (7-0 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) has expressed a little frustration at being brought on gradually by the Bellator brass, but a swift turnaround means he’ll make a quick return to action just two months removed from his last appearance. Tyrell finished Rudy Schaffroth at Bellator 225 in the latest impressive display of his career to register his third straight finish inside the Bellator cage. Now he’ll look to make it four when he takes on Azunna Anyanwu (15-5 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) this weekend.
When Tyrell makes his walk to the cage, he’ll be hoping to do so having already seen his twin brother claim victory earlier the night. Light heavyweight Tyree (4-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) will make only the second appearance of his Bellator career when he takes on Chuck Campbell (2-0 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) on the preliminary card.
Victory for the pair will make the event an historic night, and one the Fortune family will never forget. Can they complete a remarkable win-double, or will Anyanwu and Campbell play spoiler and prevent a double celebration on Friday night?
