THE TORCH: THE #1 WORLDWIDE BRAND IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE - OVER 250 MILLION VIEWS & LISTENS PER YEAR REREACHING MORE FANS EVERY WEEK THAN ANY OTHER INDEPENDENT SOURCE • VIA THE WEB, MOBILE, PRINT NEWSLETTER, AND ITUNES
Bellator Fighting Championships has yet to announce the matchups for the recently completed lightweight tournament field for the organization's second season, but one of the competitors has revealed his first round opponent.
Toby Imada, who the organization was hoping to match up with Jorge Masvidal for a second time following his upset victory during season one, will actually meet up with Ferrid Kheder. He revealed his first round matchup with MMAJunkie.com.
The fight is expected to come to Bellator 15 on April 22nd.
The report states Masvidal did not join the tournament for the second season as he would have needed to sign a contract extension and wasn't willing to commit to further fights outside of the two he has remaining on his contract. He is expected to fight in non-tournament bouts during the second season.
Imada has won nine out of his last ten fights, with the sole loss coming in last year's finals to Eddie Alvarez.
His opponent, Kheder, is a former Judoka who made the move to MMA in 2006. In 21 career fights, he's amassed a 16-5 record, including eleven victories in his last twelve bouts.
The remaining three matchups for the season two tournament have yet to be revealed, though they are expected to be announced this week. The season begins on April 8th, and live events air on Fox Sports Net every Thursday night.
Penick's Analysis: This is a solid first round matchup, and a good test for Imada to kick off the tournament. If he's going to make another run to get a rematch with Alvarez he'll need a hell of a performance to get out of this round against a solid fighter in Kheder. We're just weeks away from this new season, and it's going to be very nice to have MMA action every week in addition to the weekend events.
ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.
The headlining bout between Phil Davis and Rashad Evans averaged 6.1 million viewers, meaning the peak number for the event will still come in somewhat higher than that. The opening bout between Demian Maia and Chris Weidman was seen by an average of four million viewers...
I am very nervous that Carlos Condit will win on Saturday night, and that I won't be able to fight Nick Diaz this summer. Carlos Condit is a very good fighter, he can strike, he is aggressive and he has submissions...
Georges St-Pierre is the only logical choice for Sonnen, since he's made it clear to the world at large that Anderson Silva wants nothing to do with him. And since everything that comes out of Chael's mouth when hyping a fight can be taken as gospel...
PART OF THE USA TODAY UFC GROUP