The next title challenger for Bellator heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov will be determined on Wednesday night at Bellator 97 in New Mexico as Ryan Martinez meets Vitaly Minakov in the Summer Series heavyweight tournament final.
Both fighters secured their spot in the tournament final by winning their semifinal bouts last month at Bellator 96 in Oklahoma.
Martinez (10-2) is a training partner of Bellator light heavyweight Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson. After losing his Bellator debut last year, he won back to back fights including defeating Travis Wiuff in 18 seconds at Bellator 93 in March.
When the Summer Series heavyweight tournament was announced, he was not initially in the tournament and was the tournament alternate. After Vinicius Spartan suffered an injury just 24 hours before the start of the tournament, he stepped in and defeated Rich Hale in the first round by knockout.
After winning his first nine career fights, Minakov (11-0) made his debut in Bellator in late 2012 at Bellator 79 and defeated Vladimir Starcencov by TKO in the second round. It was only the second time in his career that his fight made it out of the first round with the other fight going the distance at a M-1 event in Russia.
He faced Ron Sparks in the semifinals of this Bellator tournament and only needed 32 seconds to get the victory by TKO. It was the sixth time in his career that he won by TKO/KO and ten of his eleven career wins have come by stoppage.
Minakov will enter the fight as the favorite as he is currently a over a three to one favorite on the betting odds. Both fighters have one punch knockout ability and could end the fight at any moment. My advice for fans will be to not blink because this fight could easily end in the opening minute of the fight as both fighters have combined for 15 career stoppage wins in the first round.