Bellator
Cheick Kongo, King Mo Lawal, and Bobby Lashley bouts join Curran-Pitbull 2 at Bellator 123 on Sept. 5
Jul 16, 2014 - 11:15:04 AM Cheick Kongo, King Mo Lawal, and Bobby Lashley bouts join Curran-Pitbull 2 at Bellator 123 on Sept. 5

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Bellator has finalized the main card for their Sept. 5 event at the Mohegan Sun, which will go head to head with UFC Fight Night 50 from Foxwoods.

Headlining the night's card, as expected, is the Featherweight Title rematch between Pat Curran and Patricio "Pitbull" Freire, with Cheick Kongo, Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal, and Bobby Lashley all fighting on the card as well.

Kongo takes on fellow UFC vet Lavar Johnson, with Lawal taking on Tom DeBlass, and Lashley meeting Josh Burns.

"I've been wanting this rematch with Curran for a long time, and it's finally here," Pitbull said in a press release. "I won that first fight, and I should be Bellator Featherweight Champion right now. This time, I'm not going to let it go to the judges. Curran has started to get cocky and he's disrespecting me. He has no idea what I've been through to get to the title."

"Pitbull has been running his mouth a lot lately and everyone is sick of hearing it," Curran responded. "I'm ready to shut him up for good. I'm an even better fighter now than I was the first time we fought and I'll show you him how a true champion fights on September 5."

Kongo and Lawal return to action after fights at Bellator 120 on pay-per-view in May. Kongo defeated Eric Smith, and will try to keep things going against Johnson, who is 1-2 in three Bellator bouts thus far. As for Lawal, he'll try to bounce back from a controversial decision loss to Rampage Jackson against DeBlass, who has won both of his Bellator fights thus far.

As for Lashley, the current TNA Champion returns to MMA for the first time since last November. The former Strikeforce vet has gone 10-2 overall in his MMA career while maintaining a pro wrestling career.

Penick's Analysis: They're bringing out a lot of recognizable names on this card to go head to head with the UFC, but right now the UFC show is the stronger of the two. Curran-Pitbull might be the best fight of the night, but the UFC show has a stronger supporting card, so it will be interesting to see how much of an audience Bellator can pull away from the UFC, and vice versa.