The Bellator MMA season ten heavyweight tournament will begin tomorrow night at the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma and the first fight on the main card will be former Bellator champion Alexander Volkov facing Oklahoma’s own Mark Holata.
Holata will be entering his third heavyweight tournament and his last tournament appearance was during season seven as he was eliminated by Vinicius Spartan.
He suffered a torn bicep tendon in that fight and this will mark his first fight since then, which was 518 days ago.
The injury put Holata on the sideline for six months and he was unable to spar or do any other type of training until June of last year. During his time away from the cage, Holata started a contracting company, but the time has come for him to get back into the cage.
“I started my own contracting company during my time off and it was going well, but I belong inside that cage tearing mother [expletive] apart,” Holata said. “That’s where I was going insane. I have a great life and I have everything I want, but without fighting, something’s missing.”
During his MMA career, ten of his fourteen fights have ended in the first round and eight of his victories have come by stoppage. All three of his wins in Bellator have come by stoppage in the first round, with two being by submission. However, he prefers to end fights by knockout.
“I like knocking guys the [expletive] out and I feel like I’m one of the hardest hitting heavyweights in the sport right now. Everyone in this tournament is going to think twice about playing with my power. Everything I throw has something on it.”
For his fight against Volkov, he has a different mindset due to what happened in his submission defeat to Spartan in the season seven tournament. Holata appeared on the verge of a victory in that fight after dropping Spartan, but an error in judgement cost him the fight.
“Vinicius Queiroz was out like a light when I dropped him in my last fight. He didn’t even know where the [expletive] he was at. He said it himself, I was out. I remember looking at the ref and the red looking at me not knowing if he should call the fight, and my initial reaction was just to go, go, go. Yeah, I got caught, but it won’t happen again. Next time I’m not going to stop. That ref’s going to have a hell of a time pulling me off him.”
“That defeat was like an epiphany that the tables can turn that fast at this level of the game. I’ve never had anything like that happen before and it was a real eye-opener for me. I had the victory right in front of me and I blew it. I’ve had to live with that feeling for over a year now. It makes me sick to my stomach.”
His opponent tomorrow night is the former Bellator heavyweight champion and this will be his first fight since losing the title to Vitaly Minakov in November. Volkov will have a nine inch reach advantage in the fight and Holata believes that Volkov will look to keep him at a distance due to this advantage. His priority will be to get inside the reach and work his striking game.
Both fighters do share a common opponent in their career, which is Spartan. While Holata was unable to get the victory, Volkov stopped Spartan in the semifinals of the season seven tournament with one second left in the second round. Holata knows that Volkov is a great fighter, but he calls Volkov a point fighter and the former Bellator champion is not going to stand and trade strikes with him.
“Alexander Volkov is a point fighter. He wants to keep the distance and hit you with low kicks and jabs. He won’t throw anything with power unless he sees that you’re hurt or tired. He is 230 pounds soaking wet and I’m going to try to punch right through him. He’s going to have to try to keep me on the outside to beat me. He’s not going to want to trade with me at all.”