The next Bellator light heavyweight tournament will begin on Friday night as Mike Mucitelli will look to remain undefeated and advance to the next round of the tournament when he faces fellow undefeated fighter Liam McGeary.
Mucitelli (6-0, 1NC) will be stepping into the Bellator cage for a sixth time on Friday night at Bellator 118 and three of his four victories in Bellator have come by submission in the first round.
He is tied for the most submissions in Bellator light heavyweight history and his win in 27 seconds at Bellator 81 is the third faster submission in Bellator history.
Prior to this fight being announced as a tournament fight, Mucitelli knew that he was a huge fight for him. He ended up doing his training camp for this fight in Philadelphia at Balance Headquarters, which fellow Bellator 118 fighter Sam Oropeza trains at.
“For this fight, I’m down here training in Philadelphia at Balance Headquarters for the first time,” Mucitelli said. “They’re a Gracie academy and they’ve been around for a while. Sam Oropeza and Will Martinez from Bellator train there too. I’m still with Tai-Kai and have been for 7 years, but I just wanted to spread my wings and experience some new coaching with some new training partners. I want to learn new stuff; new techniques and new styles.”
Mucitelli and McGeary are both tall light heavyweights, but this is not the first time Mucitelli will face a tall fighter. In his Bellator debut, he faced Matt Van Buren, who is 6’5 and he submitted him in the first round. While he believes he has several advantages in the fight, he explained why his height is an advantage heading into the fight.
“I’ve got a lot of advantages,” Mucitelli explained. “He’s really rangy, he hits really hard and he throws nice, straight punches. I’ve got a lot more experience than him. My first fight in Bellator was against Matt Van Buren on a week’s notice, and Van Buren was 6’5”. Liam hasn’t faced any opponents that are my height, but I’ve faced a lot of opponents that are my height. My first training partner was Jon Jones and my training partner at home is 6’4” with an 80” reach. This is familiar territory for me.”
“I also believe I’m much stronger than him. He’s very lanky and wiry. I have much more power. I’ve got strength and experience on him, and also experience on the main card. He’s never been on the main card before and my first Bellator fight was on the main card. I also think I’m more technically sound. He gets away with a lot of stuff just because he’s so much taller than his opponents whereas I’ve been taught to grind through a bunch of important details rather than relying on being taller.”
The fight between Mucitelli and McGeary is scheduled to open up the main card broadcast on Spike TV and this will be the first time that McGeary has been placed on the main card. Just like in all of his fights, Mucitelli will be looking to finish the fight whether is on the feet or on the ground.
“I sure hope the fans will look forward to this fight. We’re both hot prospects and we’re both big, violent finishers. All my fights except for one have been finished, included all those in my amateur career. If we’re on the feet, I’m looking to knock you out. If we’re on the ground, I’m looking to snap something or choke you out. That’s how this fight is going to be.”
“We’re both going to be hunting for an electric finish and to put an exclamation point on this division. It’s not the same old tired names you should be watching – you should be watching the hungry guys who have been slaving away on the undercard and are now on their way up and finally getting a chance to showcase our skills on the main card.”