Former UFC heavyweight Cheick Kongo will make his Bellator debut on September 27 at Bellator 101 in a season heavyweight heavyweight tournament semifinal bout and he will face Mark Godbeer.
Bellator announced the fight booking during the Bellator 98 broadcast on Spike TV last night and the other heavyweight tournament semifinal bout will be announced shortly.
Bellator 101 will come from the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon on September 27th and the main card on Spike TV will feature the opening round of the season nine lightweight tournament.
Kongo (18-8-2) had his UFC contract expire after his defeat to Roy Nelson at UFC 159 in April. While in the UFC, he went 11-6-1 and had won three of his previous five fights in the organization. After his contract expired, the French fighter took some time away before deciding to accept the contract offer from Bellator.
Godbeer (8-1) will also be making his Bellator debut in this fight and all of his wins have come by stoppage. Six of his eight career wins have come by TKO/KO and his last two victories have come by TKO in the first round.
The current Bellator 101 card is below:
Main Card: (Spike TV – 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT)
Cheick Kongo (18-8-2) vs. Mark Godbeer (8-1)
Marcus Davis (22-9) vs. Tiger Sarnavskiy (23-1) *
John Alessio (34-16) vs. Will Brooks (10-1) *
Martin Stapleton (12-1) vs. Saad Awad (14-5) *
Ricardo Tirloni (15-4) vs. Rich Clementi (45-22-1) *
Preliminary Card: (Spike.com – 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT)
Marcin Held (15-3) vs TBA
Joe Pacheco (6-0) vs. Tyson Jeffries (10-7)
Andy Uhrich (9-3) vs. Nathan Coy (12-4)
Jeremiah Riggs (7-7) vs. Peter Aspinwall (3-3)
Scott Thometz (6-2) vs. Brent Primus (2-0)
Austin Springer (3-0) vs. Brent Alvarez (1-1)
* – Lightweight Tournament Opening Round