The ninth season of Bellator MMA will continue tonight from the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California and the main card will feature the opening round of the season nine featherweight tournament. 
Along with the featherweight tournament bouts, the main card on Spike TV will feature a light heavyweight bout as two former UFC fighters make their Bellator debut as Vladimir Matysuhenko meets Houston Alexander.
The preliminary card will begin at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on Spike.com and one of the bouts will be a heavyweight bout as Blagoi Ivanov (7-0) returns to MMA after a 21 month layoff due to an incident outside of the cage and he will meet Manny Lara (4-3). Also, top featherweight prospect Goiti Yamauchi (14-1) will meet Musa Toliver (9-8-1).
Following the conclusion of the preliminary card, the main card will begin on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT with Sean Wheelock and Jimmy Smith on the call.
Joe Taimanglo (18-4-1) vs. Andrew Fisher (12-4-1)
The opening bout will be a featherweight tournament opening round bout as the Guam native Taimanglo will meet Fisher. Taimanglo will be making his second appearance in the Bellator cage as he defeated Ronnie Rogers at Bellator 94 earlier this year. He is currently on a nine fight winning streak and eleven of his career wins have come by submission.
Fisher is one of several United Kingdom fighters that have been signed by Bellator over the past couple of months and has gone undefeated since moving to the featherweight division. He has gone 6-0-1 in his last seven fights and his last three wins have come by TKO.
Justin Wilcox (11-5) vs. Akop Stepanyan (13-5)
Stepanyan was initially scheduled to face season eight tournament winner Shahbulat Shamhalaev but Wilcox was place into this tournament on seven days notice when Shamhalaev returned to Dagestan to be with his ailing father.
This is the third time that Stepanyan has been placed into the Bellator featherweight tournament and he has been unable to get out of the opening round bout in his previous attempts. After losing to Marlon Sandro in the season eight tournament, he returned at Bellator 92 and defeated Chris Saunders by TKO.
Wilcox is making his debut in Bellator tonight and is dropping down in weight from the lightweight division. The former Strikeforce fighter has lost back to back fights and this will be his first fight in 14 months as he was defeated by Jorge Masvidal at the Strikeforce event in July of last year.
Vladimir Matyushenko (26-7) vs. Houston Alexander (15-9)
In a battle of MMA veterans, Matyushenko and Alexander will square off as both fighters are making their debut with Bellator MMA. Matyushenko was signed by the organization earlier this year and was initially scheduled to meet former light heavyweight champion Christian M’Pumbu. However, M’Pumbu had to pull out of the fight with a hand injury and Bellator turned to Alexander.
Matyushenko comes to Bellator after his second stint in the UFC and has lost his last two fights. “The Janitor” believes he has another run in him at being a world champion and that journey begins tonight against Alexander. His last five fights have not made it out of the first round, including a 20 second knockout victory over Alexander’s training partner Jason Brilz at UFC 129.
Since his exit from the UFC in 2010, Alexander has gone 6-4-1 and has won back to back fights with both wins coming by stoppage. Ten of his fifteen career wins have come by TKO/KO and his last five wins have come by either TKO/KO or submission.
The winner of this fight will likely be a candidate for the next Bellator light heavyweight tournament which is likely to take place at the beginning of 2014 in the tenth season of Bellator.
Dez Green (9-1) vs. Fabricio Guerreiro (17-1)
In the third opening round bout in the featherweight tournament, Green will make his Bellator debut and he enters this fight after defeating UFC veteran Henry Martinez earlier this month. Seven of his nine victories have come by decision by told TheMMAReport.com this week that he plans to finish Guerreiro.
Guerreiro made his Bellator debut in the season eight tournament but was submitted by eventual tournament winner Frodo Khasbulaev. He is known for his submissions as twelve of his career wins have come by submission and has won nine fights in the first round.
Patricio Pitbull (17-2) vs. Diego Nunes (18-4)
The main event of the fight card will be the final featherweight tournament opening round bout as Pitbull looks to win his second Bellator featherweight tournament. He was a finalist in the season two tournament and won the season four tournament.
Following the season four tournament, injuries delayed his Bellator title shot and ended up fighting Pat Curran for the title at the beginning of the year at Bellator 85. He was defeated by split decision and returned to the cage at Bellator 97 and defeated Jared Downing by TKO in the second round.
During his time in Bellator, he is 6-2 with a 50 percent striking accuracy and 61 percent takedown accuracy. Six of his last seven fights have made it to the third round and has promised to scored a stoppage victory in this fight.
Nunes is one of several former UFC fighters that have been signed by Bellator over the past couple of months and this will be his first fight since losing to Nik Lentz at UFC on FX 7 at the beginning of the year.
While in the WEC/UFC, Nunes went 7-4 and all of his fights went to a decision. His last stoppage victory came in 2008 in Brazil and holds notable wins over former WEC champion Mike Brown, Raphael Assuncao and Manny Gamburyan.
