The Bellator cage heads to Temecula, Calif. as the Pechanga Resort & Casino plays host to Bellator 229. The main card airs on Paramount and streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
The card features a host of bouts showcasing fighters looking to force themselves into contender positions in their respective weight classes, and is headlined by a battle between two of the most dangerous 170-pounders under the Bellator banner.
Here are our five burning questions ahead of Friday night’s fights:
Which welterweight contender will make the step forward?
Welterweight contenders Andrey Koreshkov and Lorenz Larkin both have designs on the Bellator 170-pound title, and both have a little work to do to get themselves into position to challenge for the strap.
That makes their main event clash in Temecula, California an absolutely pivotal matchup, with one man moving forward to face the division’s top contenders and the other forced to go back to square one and build up their momentum once again.
Former champion Koreshkov (22-3 MMA, 13-3 BMMA) has only lost to two men in his career: Douglas Lima and Ben Askren. After losing his trilogy bout decider against Lima last September the Russian contender bounced back with a unanimous decision win over Mike Jasper at Bellator 219 in March.
Now he’ll be looking to deliver a dominant display against Larkin (20-7 MMA, 2-2 BMMA), who bounced back from losing his first two Bellator bouts in 2017 to even up his record in the promotion with victories over Fernando Gonzalez and Ion Pascu.
Victory over Koreshkov will send a real message to the rest of the division and announce himself as a legitimate title threat, but the Russian has designs on a reunion with his old belt. Who’ll move on and who’ll fall to the back of the welterweight queue?
Will Awad or Yamauchi surge into title contention?
A pair of well-matched lightweight campaigners go head to head as Saad Awad and Goiti Yamauchi face off in a bid to push themselves toward the sharp end of Bellator 155-pound division.
Awad (23-11 MMA, 11-8 BMMA) has gone 4-2 in his last six fights stretching back to the start of 2017, but with back-to-back decision losses to Benson Henderson and Brandon Girtz in his last two outings, “The Assassin” knows defeat simply isn’t an option this time around.
Yamauchi (23-4 MMA, 9-3 BMMA), meanwhile, defeated featherweight grand prix contender and former title challenger Daniel Weichel last November, and went the distance in a losing effort with former champion Michael Chandler in January 2018. The Brazilian is also 4-2 from his last six and knows that victory over Awad will likely land him one of the division’s top names.
Who will prevail? The submission ace from Brazil or the seasoned operator from the United States?
Will Keri Melendez maintain her undefeated record?
After picking up a pair of victories in 2018, Keri Melendez returns to the Bellator cage looking to register the fourth win of her undefeated mixed martial arts career.
She takes on debuting fighter, bodybuilder and fitness model Mandy Polk, who arrives in Bellator riding a three-fight win streak of her own, courtesy of a trio of first-round submission wins. But those three wins came against opponents who had no professional wins to their name. Melendez (3-0 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) will represent a significant step up.
Victory for Polk (6-4 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) would represent something of a shock and announce her arrival as a legitimate contender, while Melendez will be expected to produce another strong performance to secure her fourth straight victory as she looks to build a case for a shot at the vacant strawweight title.
But who will move on to a possible title shot, the undefeated Bellator star or the talented newcomer?
How impressive will Anatoly Tokov look this time around?
Russian middleweight Anatoly Tokov was one of the most feared 185-pounders in Europe before he signed with Bellator. Now he’s one of the most dangerous, but still largely unheralded, contenders in the organization’s middleweight class.
Tokov’s power, combined with his combat sambo background and countless hours spent in the gym training alongside mentor Fedor Emelianenko, make him a seriously dangerous prospect for any middleweight on the Bellator roster.
Tokov (28-3 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) is undefeated in Bellator, having racked up four wins in a row, with three by stoppage, and he already has the names of Alexander Shlemenko and Gerald Harris on his victim list.
Victory over Hracho Darpinyan (17-8-2 MMA, 0-0-1 BMMA) could well see him thrust forward into higher-profile matchups as continued to climb the middleweight ladder. In Tokov Bellator has a potential champion on their hands, and they will be expecting another impressive win from the Stary Oksol man.
If he can produce another eye-catching display, Tokov may find himself in a top-drawer matchup next time around.
Can Joe Schilling make it three in a row?
Kickboxing ace Joe Schilling continues his transition into MMA when he lines up against Tony Johnson looking to claim something of a landmark victory in Temecula.
After going 2-5 in his first seven career bouts in MMA, Schilling (4-5 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) secured back-to-back victories for the first time with wins over Will Morris and Keith Berry at Bellator 210 and 219 respectively.
Now facing in-form Tony Johnson, who returns to Bellator following a victory at Dana White’s Contender Series, Schilling faces a seasoned opponent who is riding a four-fight win streak.
Victory for “Stitch ‘Em Up” would give him his first three-fight win streak as an MMA fighter and even up his win-loss record.
Can Schilling’s elite-level striking and evolving MMA game power him to victory and continue building momentum in the Bellator middleweight division, or will Johnson (8-2 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) prove to be another speed bump in Schilling’s MMA career?
