Bellator 179 takes place tomorrow at the Wembley Arena in London, England and will be headlined by a title eliminator fight in the welterweight division as former UFC title challenger Rory MacDonald will make his promotional debut as he will meet Paul Daley.
In the co-main event of the fight card, former Bellator light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary will look for his second straight victory since losing the Bellator title against Phil Davis as he will meet Linton Vassell in a matchup that could determine the next title challenger in the Bellator 205 pound division.
Now let’s take a closer look at the five fights that will take place on the main card of Bellator 179.
Paul Daley (39-14-2) vs. Rory MacDonald (18-4)
Bellator 179 will mark the seventh fight in Bellator for Paul Daley and he enters this fight following a knockout of the year candidate victory over Brennan Ward at Bellator 170 in January. His only defeat in Bellator came last year against current Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima and he is 10-2 in his last 12 fights.
- Currently has the 6th most wins in Bellator welterweight division history.
- His last 2 victories have come in the opening round by knockout and 3 of his 5 wins in Bellator have come in the opening round.
- 29 career wins by TKO/KO.
Rory MacDonald was signed by Bellator last year and this will be his first fight in 11 months as he is coming off a decision defeat against Stephen Thompson at UFC Fight Night 89. He is 3-3 in his last 6 fights and 2 of those 3 defeats came against former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler.
- 8th longest average fight time (13:42) in UFC welterweight division history (Ryan LaFlare #1, 16:26) – Minimum 5 UFC fights.
- Has made it to the 3rd round in his last 8 fights.
- Holds a decision victory over current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.
Liam McGeary (12-1) vs. Linton Vassell (17-5)
Former Bellator light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary will look to make his case for a title fight at Bellator 179 when he takes on Linton Vassell. McGeary is coming off a TKO victory against Brett McDermott in February at Bellator 173 in a catchweight bout and he is 9-1 in Bellator.
- Tied with Emmanuel Newton for the most wins in Bellator light heavyweight division history and tied with Ben Askren, Eddie Alvarez, Will Brooks, and Brennan Ward for the 6th most wins in Bellator history.
- 2nd most TKO/KO wins (4) in Bellator light heavyweight division history (Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal #1, 5).
- Tied with Mike Mucitelli and Newton for the most submission victories (3) in Bellator light heavyweight division history.
- His victory over Mucitelli at Bellator 118 in 22-seconds is the 4th fastest victory in Bellator light heavyweight division history.
Since dropping a decision to Lawal in the one-night, four-man light heavyweight tournament in 2015, Linton Vassell has won back to back fights by decision and his most recent win came in November at Bellator 165 against Francis Carmont. Both of his recent victories have come by decision and he’s 6-2 in Bellator.
- Tied with Phillipe Lins and Tito Ortiz for the 2nd most submission wins (2) in Bellator light heavyweight division history (Mucitelli, Newton, and McGeary tied for most, 3).
- 3rd most wins (6) in Bellator light heavyweight division history (Newton and McGeary tied for the most, 8).
Cheick Kongo (26-10-2) vs. Augusto Sakai (9-0-1)
Cheick Kongo will look to give himself a birthday present on Friday when he meets Augusto Sakai in a key heavyweight bout. Kongo turned 42 on Wednesday and will be looking to accomplish something he has never been able to accomplish in his career, win 5 fights in a row.
- Kongo has gone 8-2 in Bellator and his average fight time in the Bellator cage is 13:31.
- Most wins (8) in Bellator heavyweight division history (Cole Konrad #2, 7).
- Tied with multiple fighters for the 3rd most TKO/KO wins (2) in Bellator heavyweight division history (Vitaly Minakov and Javy Avala tied for the most, 4).
Augusto Sakai is coming off a majority draw against Dan Charles at Bellator 155 and he is 3-0-1 in Bellator. After starting his career with 4 straight victories coming in the opening round, 4 of his last 6 fights have made it to the 3rd round.
- His majority draw against Charles came 364 days ago.
- 4th most wins (4) in Bellator heavyweight division history (Kongo #1, 8).
- All of his stoppage victories have come by TKO/KO.
Dan Vinni (14-14) vs. Alex Lohore (10-1)
After dropping 6 straight dights in 2014 and 2015, Dan Vinni is making his Bellator debut following back to back victories. His most recent win came in December at European Beatdown 1 as he scored a TKO victory at the end of the second round against Vaso Bakocevic.
- All of his wins have come by TKO/KO (6) or Submission (8).
- 20 of his 28 fights have ended in the opening round.
Alex Lohore won his Bellator debut earlier this year with a submission victory against Ultimate Fighter alum Colin Fletcher at Bellator 173. He enters Bellator 179 on a seven fight winning streak and he has won back to back fights by submission.
- 9 wins by stoppage (5 TKO/KO, 4 Submissions) and 7 of those wins have come in the opening round.
- In his 4th professional fight, he defeated Darrel Felid in 11-seconds by TKO.
D.J. Griffin (0-0) vs. Kevin Ferguson Jr. (0-1)
After having 4 amateur fights (2-2), D.J. Griffin will make his professional debut against “Baby Slice” at Bellator 179. Both of his amateur wins came by stoppage and he’s coming off a TKO win in August against Justin Gentemann.
- Won his amateur debut by submission in 2015 and according to Sherdog, Michael Chiesa was the referee for the fight.
- Both of his amateur defeats came by stoppage in the opening round.
After losing his professional debut last year at Bellator 165, Kevin Ferguson Jr. returns to competition at Bellator 179. Prior to his pro debut, he won his amateur debut in early 2016 by knockout.
- Defeated Tom Brink in his amateur debut in 83-seconds.
- Lost his pro debut against Aaron Hamilton by submission at Bellator 165.
The complete Bellator 179: Daley vs. MacDonald fight card is below.
Main Card: (Spike – 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT)
Paul Daley (39-14-2) vs. Rory MacDonald (18-4)
Liam McGeary (12-1) vs. Linton Vassell (17-5)
Cheick Kongo (26-10-2) vs. Augusto Sakai (9-0-1)
Dan Vinni (14-14) vs. Alex Lohore (10-1)
D.J. Griffin (0-0) vs. Kevin Ferguson Jr. (0-1)
Preliminary Card: (Unaired)
Jay Dods (6-0) vs. Alfie Davis (6-1)
Rob Beech (4-1) vs. Stav Economou (17-5)
amie Powell (6-1) vs. Amir Albazi (8-0)
Umer Kayani (4-3) vs. Nathan Jones (10-5)
Liam Etebar (6-1) vs. Rafal Cejra Cejrowski (2-0)
Jeremy Petley (10-8) vs. Chase Morton (6-3)
Marcin Prostko (4-5) vs. Mike Shipman (9-1)
Lukasz Parobeic (12-6) vs. Neil Grove (12-8)
Salih Kulucan (4-5) vs. Diego Barbosa (3-0)