Bellator 172 will take place tonight from the SAP Center in San Jose, California and will be headlined by the promotional debut of Fedor Emelianenko as he will meet Matt Mitrione in a heavyweight bout.
Along with the heavyweight main event, the five fight main card on Spike (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) will see a key matchup in the lightweight division as Josh Thomson steps back into competition for the first time since the end of 2015 when he meets former Bellator lightweight title challenger Patricky “Pitbull” Freire in the co-main event of the fight card.
Prior to the main card on Spike, the preliminary card on Bellator.com (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT) will feature the Bellator debut of middleweight Anatoly Tokov as he will Francisco France in a catchweight bout of 187 pounds.
Now let’s take a closer look at the five fights that will take place on the main card.
Fedor Emelianenko (36-4, 1NC) vs. Matt Mitrione (11-5)
Tonight will mark the first fight for Fedor Emelianenko in the United States since losing to Dan Henderson in 2011. Since that defeat, he has won five fights in a row and is coming off a majority decision victory over Fabio Maldonado at EFN 50.
- 3 of his last 4 victories have come by either knockout or submission in the first round.
- 28 of his 36 wins have come by stoppage (11 TKO/KO, 17 Submissions).
- Undefeated when the fight goes to the decision (9-0).
Matt Mitrione made his Bellator debut last year and has won both of his fights in the promotion by TKO/KO. After defeating Carl Seumanutafa by knockout in the first round at Bellator 157 in his promotional debut, he fought less than 30 days later at Bellator 158 and scored a TKO victory over Oli Thompson in the second round.
- Tied with Roy Nelson for the 3rd most knockdowns landed in UFC heavyweight division history.
- 10 of his 11 victories have come by TKO/KO.
- 5-2 in his last 7 fights and 4 of those wins have come in the first round.
Josh Thomson (22-8, 1NC) vs. Patricky “Pitbull” Freire (16-8)
Josh Thomson will be looking for his third straight victory tonight when he meets Patricky Pitbull in the co-main event of the fight card. Thomson made his Bellator debut in the fall of 2015 and both of his victories in Bellator have come by stoppage.
- This is the first fight for Thomson in 442 days (1 year, 2 months, 14 days).
- Thomson’s victories in Bellator have come against Mike Bronzoulis (submission) and Pablo Villaseca (knockout).
- Scored a knockout of the night bonus in 2013 at UFC on FOX 7 when he defeated Nate Diaz by TKO in the second round.
Patricky Pitbull will be looking to bounce back tonight against Thomson after losing to Michael Chandler at Bellator 157. The defeat against Chandler snapped a two fight winning streak and Patricky has gone 6-3 in his last nine fights.
- Tonight will mark the 17th fight in Bellator for Patricky and this will tie him with his brother Patricio Pitbull and former Bellator champion Joe Warren for the 2nd most fights in Bellator history.
- Currently tied with Will Brooks for the 3rd most wins in Bellator lightweight division history.
- Patricky has a total cage time of 2:30:34 in Bellator and this is the 11th most cage time in Bellator history.
- His 6 TKO/KO victories in Bellator is the most in lightweight division history and is tied with Mike Richman, Patricio Pitbull, Alexander Shlemenko and Brennan Ward for 2nd most in Bellator history.
- Holds the 9th fastest TKO/KO victory in Bellator lightweight division history with his 50-second victory against Kurt Pellegrino at Bellator 59.
Cheick Kongo (25-10-2) vs. Oli Thompson (17-9)
Cheick Kongo enters Bellator 172 riding a three fight winning streak and is coming off a majority decision victory against Tony Johnson at Bellator 161. During his winning streak, all of the victories have come by decision and his last stoppage victory came at Bellator 123 in 2104 against Lavar Johnson.
- Tied with Cole Konrad for the most wins in Bellator heavyweight division history.
- Kongo has the 4th best significant strike accuracy (58.2%) in UFC heavyweight division history (minimum 5 UFC fights and 350 significant strike attempts).
- Tied with Derrick Lewis for the 5th best strike differential (+2.08) in UFC heavyweight division history (minimum 5 UFC fights).
- 5th lowest strikes absorbed per minute (1.43) in UFC heavyweight division history (minimum 5 UFC fights).
- Tied with Gabriel Gonzaga for the 3rd most takedowns landed (24) in UFC heavyweight division history.
- Best takedown accuracy (63.2%) in UFC heavyweight division history (minimum 5 UFC fights and 20 takedown attempts)
Oli Thompson dropped his Bellator debut last year against Matt Mitrione and the defeat snapped a five fight winning streak. During that winning streak, two of the five wins came by TKO in the first round and he is 8-5 since exiting the UFC in 2012.
- 13 wins by stoppage (7 TKO/KO, 6 Submissions)
- Tonight will mark his 3rd MMA fight to take place in the United States.
Veta Arteaga (2-1) vs. Brooke Mayo (0-0)
Veta Arteaga made her Bellator debut last year at Bellator 155 and scored a decision victory against Jackie Vandenburgh. She returned to the Bellator cage four months later at Bellator 161 and lost a split decision against Anastasia Yankova.
- All of her fights have come to the decision.
- Made her professional debut 371 days ago at Front Street Fights 8.
After having ten amateur fights, Brooke Mayo will make her professional debut tonight at Bellator 172. Her last amateur fight came in July of last year and she defeated Mayra Mazza by stoppage in the third round at Get Down Fights 22.
- 6 of her 8 amateur victories came by stoppage (4 TKO/KO, 2 Submissions).
- Has competed as a bantamweight and flyweight.
Josh Koscheck (17-10) vs. Mauricio Alonso (12-7, 1NC)
After being on the sidelines due to injury, Josh Koscheck will make his Bellator debut tonight when he takes on Mauricio Alonso. He will be looking to snap a five fight winning streak and score his first victory since early 2012.
- 7th most takedowns landed (38) in UFC welterweight division history.
- This is the first fight for Koscheck in 700 days (1 year, 10 months, 28 days).
- His last victory came against Mike Pierce at UFC 143 (1,841 days ago).
Mauricio Alonso lost his Bellator debut in 2015 against Nick Pica at Bellator 142 and since that fight, he has won back to back fights. Both of those victories have come by unanimous decision and his most recent victory came in August at Dragon House 23 against Justin Baesman.
- 7-3, 1NC in his last 11 fights.
- 5 wins by stoppage (4 TKO/KO, 1 Submission).
The current Bellator 172: Fedor vs. Mitrione fight card is below.
Main Card: (Spike – 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT)
Fedor Emelianenko (36-4, 1 NC) vs. Matt Mitrione (11-5)
Josh Thomson (22-8, 1 NC) vs. Patricky “Pitbull” Freire (16-8)
Cheick Kongo (25-10-2) vs. Oli Thompson (17-9)
Veta Arteaga (2-1) vs. Brooke Mayo (0-0)
Josh Koscheck (17-10) vs. Mauricio Alonso (12-7, 1 NC)
Preliminary Card: (Bellator.com – 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT)
Anatoly Tokov (24-2) vs. Francisco France (13-4-1)
James Terry (18-9) vs. J.C. Llamas (8-5)
Nikko Jackson (1-1) vs. Cesar Gonzalez (0-1)
Juan Cardenas (1-0) vs. Luis Vargas (0-1)
Dominic Sumner (1-0) vs. Abraham Vaesau (1-0)
Anthony Do (4-1) vs. Bobby Escalante (4-5)
Matt Ramirez (1-2) vs. Jeremy Murphy (3-3)
J.J. Okanovich (3-1) vs. Zach Andrews (5-1)
Abner Perez (0-0) vs. Gaston Bolanos (0-0)
Justin Tenedora (0-0) vs. Roque Reyes (0-3)
Martin Sano (4-2) vs. Diego Herzog (4-2)