Title, final, and semifinal all take place at BFC 70

Eric Prindle.jpg

(Eric Prindle)

The season 6 bantamweight semifinals, lightweight finals, and a heavyweighttitle fight are on the schedule for BFC 70 Friday, the bantamweight finals andwelterweight finals will have to wait until the 2012 summer series.  BFC 70 takes place at the Orleans ConventionCenter in New Orleans, LA with an undercard webstreamed on Spike.com and a maincard televised on MTV2.

Cole KonradThe season 5 heavyweight tournament has been a bit of a headache ever since agroin kick by Thiago Santos to Eric Prindle in the finals at BFC 59 forced adelay to this season.  The rematch wasscheduled for BFC 61 then a medical delay postponed the fight to BFC 62 atwhich Santos came in 12 pounds overweight and Prindle was handed the win.  Meanwhile champion Cole Konrad had anon-title fight at BFC 48 but has not defended his title since winning it afterwinning the season 3 tournament a year-and-a-half ago.  On the bright side this fight looksinteresting.  2005 Pan American ChampionshipsSenior Freestyle Gold Medalist Konrad is not only undefeated in MMA at 8-0, thestandup he showed against UFC vet Paul Buentello at BFC 48 was much improvedfrom his previous “lay-and-pray style.  9-1Prindle hasn’t fought since the Santos “no contest” and is 3-0 in BFC, 7-1overall with a 7-fight win streak.  Bothare known for a ground-and-pound style with improving standup, Prindle is knownfor more strength if less wrestling experience. This one will likely be an interesting chess match with conditioningbeing the likely factor to win.

Rick HawnThe lightweight finals are arguably more interesting as 2004 Olympic Games judocompetitor (9th place) Rick Hawn faces Brent Weedman.  Hawn ha a good career at welterweight onlylosing to Jay Hieron in the finals of the season 4 tournament before droppingto lightweight for this tournament where he defeated Ricardo Tirloni and LloydWoodard to earn this spot. Brent Weedman Weedman hasbeen one of the more impressive Bellator up-and-comers even if he did geteliminated from the season 4 and 5 tournaments before the finals beforedefeating J.J. Ambrose and Thiago Michel this season.

Hiroshi NakamuraMost of the Japanese fighters who have fought in Bellator haven’t emergedvictorious but now Hiroshi Nakamura has a chance to redeem some of that as hefaces Luis Nogueira in the bantamweight tournament semifinals.  Nakamura defeated Rodrigo Lima, Nogueiradefeated Alexis Vila in the quarterfinals both by decision and both beingsomewhat uninspiring. Luis Nogueira on right Nogueira willalmost certainly take try to take down Nogueira, it’s a matter of if he cankeep the fight on the ground and how much Nogueira will damage Nakamura withstrikes.
Rich Clementi
BFC 70:

MW: Jeremiah Riggs vs. Kelvin Tiller
BW: Derek Arcement vs. Blake Dufour
LW: Kyle Bradley vs. John Harris
WW: A.J. Matthews vs. Charlie Rader
160: Keith Schneider vs. Josh Shockley
LW: Derek Campos vs. Rich Clementi
BW tournament semifinal: HiroshiNakamura vs. Luis Nogueira
LW tournament finals: Rick Hawn vs. Brent Weedman
HW title: Cole Konrad vs. Eric Prindle