Bellator 161 will take place on tomorrow night at the HEB Center in Cedar Park, Texas and will be headlined by a key bout in the heavyweight division as former Bellator title challenger Cheick Kongo will meet Tony Johnson.
The co-main event of the fight card will be a bantamweight bout as former Bellator champion Joe Warren will look to climb his way back into title contention when he meets Sirwan Kakai.
Check out a breakdown of the fights that will be on the main card broadcast on Spike.
Cheick Kongo (24-10-2) vs. Tony Johnson (10-2)
Since losing a decision to former Bellator heavyweight champion Vitaly Minakov, Kongo has gone 4-1 and enters this fight card with back to back victories. Both of his recent victories have come by decision and is coming off a split decision victory against Vinicius “Spartan” Queiroz in February at Bellator 150.
- Currently tied with Blagoy Ivanov and Alexander Volkov for the second-most wins in Bellator heavyweight division history.
- Tied with multiple fighters for the third-most TKO/KO wins in Bellator heavyweight division history.
- Sixteen of his twenty-four wins have come by stoppage (12 TKO/KO, 4 Submissions).
Johnson returned to Bellator last year and is currently on a three fight winning streak. His most recent victory came in January at Bellator 148 as he defeated Rafael Butler by TKO in the third round and two of his last three wins have come TKO.
- Since losing to current UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in 2010, Johnson has gone 6-1.
- Holds a decision victory over current UFC heavyweight Derrick Lewis.
- All of his stoppage victories have come by TKO/KO.
Joe Warren (12-4, 1NC) vs. Sirwan Kakai (12-4)
This will be the first fight for Warren since being submitted by Darrion Caldwell at Bellator 151. He is winless in his last three fights and his last official win came in 2014 against current Bellator bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas.
- Tied with Rick Hawn and Andrey Koreshkov for the fourth-most wins in Bellator history.
- With a victory over Kakai, he will tie Dantas for the most wins in Bellator bantamweight division history.
- Only fighter in Bellator history to win a title in two weight classes.
Kakai made his Bellator debut at Bellator 151 and he will be looking to snap a two fight losing streak against Warren. In his Bellator debut, he lost a decision against Joe Taimanglo and his last win took place last year against Danny Martinez at UFC Fight Night 70.
- Ten of his twelve wins have come by stoppage (4 TKO/KO, 6 Submissions).
- All of his professional defeats have come by decision.
- His submission victories have come by rear-naked choke, triangle choke, guillotine choke and arm-triangle choke.
Anastasia Yankova (3-0) vs. Veta Arteaga (2-0)
Yankova made her professional mixed martial arts debut in 2013 and won her Bellator debut in April against Anjela Pink. All of her wins have come by submission and her last two wins have come in the first round.
- Two of her three wins have come by armbar submission.
- Average fight time in her three professional MMA fights is just over three minutes.
Arteaga won her Bellator debut in May at Bellator 155 as she defeated Jackie Vandenburgh by unanimous decision. Both of her professional mixed martial arts victories have come by decision as she won her professional debut by split decision against Ashley Deen.
- This will be her third fight in seven months.
- First fight to take place outside the state of Idaho.
Derek Campos (16-6) vs. Djamil Chan (12-2)
Campos snapped a two fight losing streak in February as he defeated Melvin Guillard by knockout at Bellator 149. He is 5-3 in his last eight fights and three of his last four fights have ended in the first round.
- His victory over Estevan Payan at Bellator 126 in 31-seconds is tied for the second-fastest victory in Bellator lightweight division history.
- Tied with multiple fighters for the fourth-most TKO/KO wins in Bellator lightweight division history.
- Has completed all of his takedown attempts in Bellator (10/10).
Chan is currently on a seven fight winning streak and defeated Richard Patishnock in his Bellator debut in April. During his recent winning streak, six of the seven victories have come by stoppage and two of his last three wins have come in the first round.
- Nine of his twelve wins have come by TKO/KO.
- Started his career 5-0 and all of those wins came by TKO/KO.
- Eight of his ten stoppage wins have come in the first round.
The current Bellator 161: Kongo vs. Johnson fight card is below.
Main Card: (Spike – 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT)
Cheick Kongo (24-10-2) vs. Tony Johnson (10-2)
Joe Warren (13-5) vs. Sirwan Kakai (12-4)
Anastasia Yankova (3-0) vs. Veta Arteaga (2-0)
Derek Campos (16-6) vs. Djamil Chan (12-2)
Preliminary Card: (Bellator.com – 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT)
Warren Stewart (11-22) vs. Nick Gonzalez (18-13)
Rey Trujillo (20-15) vs. Deuce King (15-17)
Jose Guerra (0-2) vs. Matt Mazurek (3-4)
Waylon Brunstrup (0-0) vs. Garrett Scott (1-0)
Kenya Miranda (2-2) vs. Emily Ducote (3-1)
Mark Dickman (11-2) vs. Daniel Pineda (21-12)
Jonathan Taylor (0-0) vs. Sean Clements (0-0)
Armando Villareal (0-0) vs. Tommy Burghart (0-0)