Bellator's seventh season starts this weekend with welterweight tournament quarterfinals

Bellator’s seventh season kicks off this weekend with BFC 74, the start of the welterweight tournament.  BFC 74 takes place at Caesar’s Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ with a main card broadcast live on MTV2.

Lyman GoodIn the welterweight tournament the fight to watch is definitely former champion Lyman Good vs. Jim Wallhead.  Both are known for their standup but Wallhead is thought to have the edge on the ground with his judo background and Good the edge with all-out aggression.  Good lost the title to Ben Askren in October 2010 and lost to Jim WallheadRick Hawn in the season 4 semifinals but also has wins over Chris Lozano and most recently LeVon Maynard for a total record of 12-2.  Wallhead also has a loss to Hawn from March 2011 but has since returned to the UK where he defeated UFC vet Frank Trigg and former EliteXC contender Joey Villasenor  to make 23-6 his record.

Maruis ZaromskisThe rest of the tournament is a little hard to get excited over mainly because the fighters aren’t well known yet or have not made a good impression.  Former Dream champion and Strikeforce vet Marius Zaromskis is arguably the most technical striker of the group but his two fights againsNordine Talebt Waachim Spiritwolf in Bellator have been the low points of those cards and raised questions regarding his ground game, his opponent Nordine Taleb is 8-1 with a seven-fight win streak but against relatively unknown fighters.  Tim Welch and Michail Tsarev are both new to Bellator with Andrey KoreshkovTsarev apparently having the edge.  Last but not least Jordan Smith’s Bellator debut was disappointing as he lost in 0:22 by KO while Andrey Koreshkov is 10-0 coming off an impressive TKO of Derrick Krantz in what appears to be the most one-sided match.

Munah HollandOn the undercard Munah Holland vs. Michelle Ould looks interesting.  Holland has been tearing up the cage for almost two years with a win over Marianna Kheyfets in BFC in March followed by a KO of BodogFIGHT vet Carina Damm in Matrix Fights in July.  Ould is a late addition with a record of 6-4, two wins in a row and last known fighting out of Team Quest.

Kenny FosterOpening the show Bombsquad’s Kenny Foster returns to Bellator to face Claudio Ledesma.  Foster had a terrible year with a loss to Daniel Straus starting a four-loss streak but his win over Claudio LedesmaJay Haas in April is breathing life into his career.  Ledesma is coming off a loss in BFC 68 but his fights against Brian Kelleher in Bellator and Pedro Gonzalez in CFFC were impressive.  Both these fighters need a win to be relevant so look for this one to possibly steal the show.

Prelims:

BW: Kenny Foster vs.Claudio Ledesma
WBW: Munah Holland vs.Michelle Ould
FW: Jay Haas vs.Brylan Van Artsdalen
LW: Derrick Kennington vs.Phillipe Nover
FW: Alexandre Bezerra vs.Matt McCook
FW: Casey Johnson vs.Will Martinez

Main card:

WW: Nordine Taleb vs.Marius Zaromskis
WW: Jordan Smith vs.Andrey Koreshkov
WW: Michail Tsarev vs.Tim Welch
WW: Lyman Good vs.Jim Wallhead