Bellator’s latest up-and-coming fighter finally gets the opportunity he’s been waiting his whole career for this Friday night. Vitaly Minakov, the undefeated Bellator heavyweight champion, puts his title on the line against tournament winner and UFC veteran Cheick Kongo in what is one of the biggest heavyweight fights of the year outside of the UFC.
And with an impressive victory in the main event of Bellator 115 — Viacom’s first show in Nevada, by the way — Minakov can establish himself as the premier heavyweight outside of Zuffa.
Minakov is so far 13-0 in his MMA career, including 12 victories by way of stoppage, with 10 of them coming in the first round. He’s won his last six fights via knockout, including four-straight T/KO victories in the Bellator organization. He won the 2013 Summer Series Heavyweight tournament to earn his title shot, and then he won the title with a destructive first-round finish of former champ Alexander Volkov at Bellator 108.
And yet, for whatever reason, there has been little-to-no buzz about this guy from either the fans or the media.
Yeah, he’s a quiet giant, and you don’t see Minakov talk as much on social media as other Russian-area fighters like Khabib Nurmagomedov do, so I guess that could be part of his lack of popularity. But still, I feel like Bellator is partly to blame for Minakov’s lack of notoriety with fans. I’m not really sure why Bellator hasn’t promoted him all that much, considering what a beast he is, but to me it’s a missed opportunity. (Then again, I also feel like they barely promote their other Russian champion, Alexander Shlemenko.) But with Minakov I feel like it’s even worse, as there has been little to no buzz for this event on Friday night. Overall, I really feel like Bellator is blowing a big opportunity to hype up a breakout star, someone who could potentially be one of the rare heavyweight draws outside of the UFC.
But this can all change at Bellator 115 when Minakov fights Kongo for the title, in by far the biggest fight of his career to date, as well as one that can solve a common dilemma he faces. The biggest knock of Minakov thus far amongst pundits is that he hasn’t fought top-flight competition. And while that is true to some extent, he does have some decent wins on his resume over Volkov, Ryan Martinez, and UFC vets Fabiano Scherner and Eddie Sanchez. So it’s not like he’s been fighting total cans, although Kongo’s resume is obviously much stronger. However, while Kongo is no doubt a step up, he’s probably not as big of a step up in competition as some are making it out to be, considering Kongo is 38 years old on the downside of his career and Minakov is 29 and on the up and up.
Is Kongo the best fighter than Minakov has ever fought? No doubt about it. But he’s also the name that Minakov needs on his resume if he’s ever going to get the respect and attention that he deserves from the fans and the media for being such a great, dominant fighter. And if I was a betting man (and I am) I would say he passes this test with flying colors this Friday night, as I am predicting Minakov to knock Kongo out and finally break out as one of Bellator’s must-see attractions.
The heavyweight division is arguably the weakest division in mixed martial arts, especially when it comes to the 265-pounders outside of the UFC. But if there was one heavyweight fight out of the UFC to watch for all year, it’d be this one between Minakov and Kongo, a fight that could launch Minakov into stardom in the world of MMA, and also one that, with a shock upset, would reinvent Kongo as a heavyweight star. We’ll see which one it will be on Friday night.
• Vitaly Minakov vs. Cheick Kongo (HW Championship)
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Bellator 115: Minakov vs. Kongo takes place on April 4, 2014 at Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada.
Click the stars to rate how good you think Bellator 115 will be.
