The Bellator Fighting Championships will wrap up the 2012 Summer Series tonight in Tunica, Mississippi at Harrah’s Tunica and the card will feature the finals of the light heavyweight and bantamweight tournaments. 
The action will kick off at 6 p.m. ET with the preliminary card on Spike.com and the main card will begin at 8 p.m. ET on MTV2 and in commercial free high definition on EPIX2.
The main event on the card will be the final of the Summer Series Light Heavyweight tournament as Travis Wiuff (68-14) takes Attila Vegh (27-4-2) and the winner will earn a title shot against current champion Christian M’Pumbu.
Wiuff was considered the favorite in the tournament since he holds a win over M’Pumbu in a non title fight last year. He told TheMMAReport.com this week that he felt the target on his back and has faced the tougher competition in the tournament than his opponent.
“Going into the tournament, I was kind of the favorite because I had beaten the champion,” Wiuff said. “There are some talented guys and I think I had the tougher side of the bracket. Not taking anything away from my opponent on Friday night, but I have beaten tougher guys in the first two round of the tournament than I will meet on Friday night.”
Wiuff has cruised through the first two rounds of the tournament with a knockout win over Chris Davis in the quarterfinals and a dominate decision victory over Tim Carpenter in the semifinals. He is the biggest light heavyweight in Bellator and cuts anywhere from 30-40 lbs to make the light heavyweight limit of 205 lbs.
Vegh had a decisive victory in the quarterfinals against Zelg Galesic with a submission in 60 seconds and had a close split decision victory over Emanuel Newton in the semifinals. He does have 11 career victories by submission, but Wiuff is expecting him to keep this fight standing.
Vegh will need to stop the takedown attempts of Wiuff and force the big light heavyweight to stand and strike with him. If the fight goes to the ground, Wiuff should be able to cruise his way to a victory.
In the co-main event, the season six bantamweight tournament will be decided as Luis Nogueira (14-2) meets Marcos Galvao (12-5-1) and the winner will receive a title shot against Eduardo Dantas at Bellator 79 on November 2nd.
This is the second Bellator tournament for both fighters as they were both in the season five bantamweight tournament. Nogueira was eliminated in the quarterfinals of that tournament and Galvao was defeated in the semifinals.
Since losing to Ed West in the season five tournament, Nogueira has finished two of his three opponents and is coming off a knockout victory over Hiroshi Nakamura in the semifinals. Galvao has gone to the decision in his last seven fights and has gone 5-2 in those fights.
Galvao is not known as a finisher as he has only finished one opponent in his career. He is a product of Nova Uniao, which is the camp that features UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo. He is known for his jiu-jitsu and will look to grind out a victory. On the other hand, Nogueira will want to keep this fight standing and make it a kick boxing fight. If he is able to do that, he will get the victory.
The entire Bellator 73 card is below and a full recap of the fight card will be available tonight after the event as ended.
Main Card: (MTV2/EPIX2 – 8 p.m. ET)
Travis Wiuff (68-14) vs. Attila Vegh (27-4-2)
Luis Nogueira (14-2) vs. Marcos Galvao (12-5-1)
Ryan Martinez (7-1) vs. Mike Wessel (11-4)
Mike Mucitelli (2-0) vs. Matt Van Buren (5-0)
Preliminary Card: (Spike.com – 6 p.m. ET)
Harry Johnson (5-7) vs. Cosmo Alexander (2-1)
Brian Albin (8-8) vs. Jacob Noe (8-1)
Amaechi Oselukwue (3-6) vs. Kelvin Tiller (4-0)
Joe Williams (7-0) vs. Andy Uhrich (8-3)
Jay Black (0-1) vs. Brian Hall (2-1)
Chris Coggins (6-2) vs. Zach Underwood (9-4)