The opening fight of the Bellator 128 main card will be a middleweight bout as Emiliano Sordi will make his Bellator and United States debut against Ultimate Fighter alum Bubba McDaniel.
Sordi (12-4) is from Argentina and trains out of Nova Uniao. He is currently riding a three fight winning streak and all of his wins have come by either knockout or submission.
He will enter this fight as a virtual unknown to mixed martia arts fans in the United States and after his fight on Friday night, he expects for fans to know what he is all about.
“I am much faster than most of the fighters in my division, Sordi said. “After this contest with Bubba McDaniel, I think more fans in America will know my name.”
Unlike Sordi, McDaniel is a known fighter to mixed martial arts fans as he was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 17. Since being released by the UFC, McDaniel has won three in a row and will be looking for his third win in Bellator.
“I understand that my opponent Bubba McDaniel has a lot of experience, he has faced a high level of competition and is better known in America than I am,” Sordi said. “However, I have a certain rhythm to my fighting that I don’t believe he can tolerate, and I have many more resources standing and a more refined striking game.”
Tonight, Sordi will become the first fighter out of Argentina to step into the Bellator cage. After he made weight yesterday, he stated that he wants to stay in Bellator for a long time and recently told TheMMAReport.com that he wants to take the Bellator belt home to Argentina with him one day.
“My goal in Bellator is to defeat Bubba McDaniel in memorable fashion, and to continue to find victory against every opponent that Bellator puts in front of me – and I won’t stop until I am champion, and I will proudly return home with the belt.”
While fans may not known anything about Sordi heading into Bellator 128, he wants to let all the fans know that they can expect to see a fighter marked by fierce aggression.
“For American and Bellator fans that don’t know Emiliano Sordi, they should expect to see a fully prepared and dedicated fighter with a style that is marked by fierce aggression. In every moment of the fight, I am hungry to overwhelm my opponent and I am looking to attack him tirelessly. This means that each performance is full of exciting action from the start until the very end, with no pauses in between.”