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By Alvin Benjamin Carter III, MMA Torch Specialist
I caught up with two time NCAA wrestling champion Cole Konrad after his Bellator debut at Bellator 17. Konrad, who is also Brock Lesnar's training partner, discusses the aspects of his game he needs to work on, and his willingness to fight in a Bellator heavyweight tournament. He beat Pat Bennett in what was a slow go round. Both of these heavyweights were undefeated going in, and now Konrad remains so at 3-0, and Bennett is now 3-1. Both landed some heavy shots, and Konrad used his wrestling in the first round which is what most likely secured his decision win.
A heavyweight tournament would only up the ante for Bellator, and fighters with a pedigree like Konrad's will draw avid fans, and fans who train in wrestling or MMA. I noticed a members of Redline Fight Sports and Sityodtong, among others, were present to watch the Bellator 17 matchups. A lot of the talent at Bellator is more familiar to those who participate in the sport. Roger Huerta and Eddie Alvarez are obviously notable to anyone with Youtube or a subscription to Sports Illustrated, but fighters like Dan Hornbuckle, Patricio Pitbull, and Cole Konrad are what I would call "fighter's fighter." Each of those fighter's stars is continually rising, but they are more recognizable to those who train MMA than a casual fan.
As these fighters stars continue to rise, Bellator's brand will do the same. The beauty of the tournament style is that the promotion wins no matter one. The best fighters rise to the top (generally speaking... Roger Huerta is still one of the best), and Bellator does not lose money hyping a fighter who ends up losing. Strikeforce could take notes on this seeing how they put their money on Dan Henderson, and that did not turn out to well.
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Follow Alvin on Twitter: @AwwwSnap
Alvin Benjamin Carter III is an MMATorch Specialist columnist focusing on the business and statistic side of the sport of MMA. He trains in SanDa / Shan Shou (Chinese Kickboxing) and MMA at REdline Fight Sports. He also has a business background in music production, management, and clothing. He has launched two companies which cater to niche markets, giving him experience in examining trends and attitudes that can affect a particular business model, which he applies in his weekly column for MMATorch to the sport of MMA.
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