Bellator will return to the Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kansas tonight for Bellator 150 and the fight card will be headlined by a heavyweight bout as former title challenger Cheick Kongo will look to move into title contention when he meets Vinicius “Spartan” Queiroz.
The fight card will begin at 6:45 p.m. ET/3:45 p.m. PT with the online preliminary card and the five fight main card will start at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Spike TV.
Check out a breakdown of the five fights that will be on the main card broadcast on Spike TV.
Cheick Kongo (23-10-2) vs. Vinicius Queiroz (8-3)
Kongo has won five of his seven fights in Bellator and was initially scheduled to meet Spartan in the season nine heavyweight tournament final in 2013. However, Spartan had to pull out of that fight with an injury and Kongo would end up defeating Peter Graham in the tournament final.
- Enters this fight following a decision win over former Bellator champion Alexander Volkov.
- Tied with multiple fighters for the 3rd most TKO/KO wins in Bellator heavyweight division history.
- Currently tied with heavyweight champion Vitaly Minakov for the 3rd most wins in Bellator heavyweight division history.
Spartan returned from injury last year and scored an arm-triangle choke submission victory at Bellator 143 against Ewerton Teixeira. It was his second straight victory and he has gone 3-1 since entering Bellator in 2012 during the season seven heavyweight tournament.
- His 23-second victory at Bellator 102 against Lavar Johnson is the 4th fastest victory in Bellator heavyweight division history.
- Tied with Ryan Martinez for the 5th most wins in Bellator heavyweight division history.
- Only gone the distance once in his career (2nd pro fight in 2007).
David Rickels (16-4, 1 NC) vs. Bobby Cooper (12-5)
Rickels will be looking to snap a two fight winless streak (0-1, 1NC) when he takes on Cooper in the co-main event of the fight card. He enters this fight following a TKO defeat against Michael Chandler at Bellator 145 and his last win came at Bellator 130 against Davi Ramos.
- Enters this fight tied with Alexander Shlemenko, Pat Curran and Patricio Pitbull for the most fights in Bellator history.
- Currently tied with Marcin Held and Rick Hawn for the 3rd most wins in Bellator history.
- Holds the 5th fastest victory in Bellator welterweight division history with his 22-second knockout win against Jordan Smith at Bellator 63.
Cooper is stepping into the Bellator cage for the third time time and he has won both of his previous fights in the promotion. His most recent appearance in the Bellator cage came in June of last year at Bellator 139 as he defeated Pablo Villaseca by split decision.
- Both of his wins in Bellator have come by decision.
- Eight of his twelve wins have come by decision.
- All of his career defeats have come by decision.
Kendall Grove (22-15) vs. Francisco France (13-3-1)
Grove made his Bellator debut in 2013 and he has alternated wins and losses in his five Bellator fights. His most recent fight in Bellator came back in September at Bellator 143 as he scored a TKO victory against Joey Beltran.
- Since exiting the UFC in 2011, Grove has gone 10-6.
- Victories in Bellator have come against Joe Vedepo, Christian M’Pumbu and Beltran.
- Two of his three wins in Bellator have come by stoppage.
France made his Bellator debut in November and scored a submission victory against Ben Reiter. The victory over Reiter was his fifth straight win and he is unbeaten in his last seven fights.
- Prior to signing with Bellator, he won the RFA middleweight title.
- Twelve of his thirteen wins have come by submission.
- Six of his submission wins have come via arm-triangle choke.
Gaston Reyno (5-0, 2NC) vs. Chuka Willis (6-2)
After starting his career with back to back fights ending in no-contest, Reyno has won five straight and won his Bellator debut last year against Greg Scott at Bellator 139. Since that victory, he took a fight outside of the promotion and defeated Yohance Flager by submission.
- His victory over Scott is the 3rd fastest submission in Bellator featherweight division history.
- All of his victories have come in the first round.
- Four of his five victories have come in under two minutes.
Willis is making his Bellator debut tonight and enters this fight with back to back victories. His most recent victory came in December as he defeated John Milledge in eleven seconds at Phoenix Fighting Challenge 3.
- Last four wins have come by stoppage (3 TKO, 1 Submission).
- Two of his four victories have come in under 45 seconds.
- Went 3-2 in 2015.
Lena Ovchynnikova (10-3) vs. Rebecca Ruth (5-1)
Ovchynnikova is making her Bellator debut tonight and will be looking for her second straight win. Her last fight came in October of 2014 as she scored a submission victory against Svetlana Gotsyk.
- Eight of her ten wins have come by submission.
- Started 8-0.
- One of her defeats came current current UFC strawweight Joanne Calderwood.
Ruth is also making her Bellator debut and she comes to the promotion after winning three straight fights in Shamrock FC. In her last fight, she stopped Alice Smith Yauger by TKO in the third round at Shamrock FC: FUEL.
- All of her wins have come by TKO.
- Only career defeat came against current UFC strawweight Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger.
- Three of her five wins have come in the opening round.
The Bellator 150: Kongo vs. Queiroz fight card is below.
Main Card: (Spike – 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT)
Cheick Kongo (23-10-2) vs. Vinicius Queiroz (8-3)
David Rickels (16-4, 1 NC) vs. Bobby Cooper (12-5)
Kendall Grove (22-15) vs. Francisco France (13-3-1)
Gaston Reyno (5-0) vs. Chuka Willis (6-2)
Lena Ovchynnikova (10-3) vs. Rebecca Ruth (5-1)
Preliminary Card: (Bellator.com – 6:45 p.m. ET/3:45 p.m. PT)
David Hammons (1-1) vs. Kyle Noblitt (1-0)
Marcio Navarro (14-11) vs. Henry Lindsay (4-5)
Chris Harris (4-0) vs. Julian Marquez (2-0)
Manny Meraz (7-1) vs. Andre Fialho (5-0)
Brandon Farran (12-10) vs. Gregory Babene (16-11)
Jason Witt (7-2) vs. Jonathan Gary (11-6)
Thai Clark (5-0) vs. Deron Carlis (4-1)