5 Reasons To Watch Bellator 47

On January 23, 2011, Bellator will hold its highly-anticipated “Bellator 47” event, featuring both semi-final fights of their special “Summer Series” Featherweight Tournament. In addition to four top Featherweights battling it out to get one step closer to a shot at a championship, Bellator 47 will also feature the Bellator debut of noted WEC and IFL veteran Chris Horodecki. Still, some fans may be asking themselves: what are the best reasons to check out this card? Here’s my answer to just that: 5 reasons to watch Bellator 47.

5. The return of Bellator.

This is the first Bellator event in about a month, and it’s been a month too long for the series that captivated me with some amazing weekly events. Let’s also not forget, the show immediately before this was one of the best events Bellator has even run. Bellator not only needs our support now that Zuffa controls the two top promotions in the world, it definitely deserves it. Bellator has been putting on a lot of good cards lately and this definitely should be one of them.

4. An interesting clash of Heavyweights that pits Neil Grove against Zak Jensen.

Neil Grove is currently 2-1 in Bellator. His only loss came to Cole Konrad in the finals of the Bellator tournament to crown the first Bellator Heavyweight Champion. Meanwhile, Zak Jensen recently rebounded from a three-fight losing-streak with a dramatic sixteen-second TKO victory. Both men are at a tipping point in their careers: a big loss sends them into obscurity, a big win could get them an automatic entry into (and even the pick as the favorite of) the next Bellator Heavyweight Tournament.

3. The debut of Chris Horodecki.

Back in the IFL days, Chris Horodecki was marketed as the young phenom who nobody could beat. Now, he’s faced several tough losses including an embarrassing TKO loss to Anthony Njokuani. Still, Horodecki recently celebrated twenty fights as a professional Mixed Martial Artist and his record is very, very positive at 17-3. Horodecki is an interesting signing by Bellator, and his Bellator debut should be quite interesting as well.

2. Marlon Sandro vs. Nazareno Malegarie sounds pretty epic on paper.

Nazareno Malegarie is nothing if not determined. He’ll fight for submissions for as long as it takes until he finally is able to trap you in something. For most of his career, that iron will combined with his iron head made him an undefeated can’t-miss prospect. But now Malegarie faces Marlon Sandro, a world-traveled veteran with seven of his eighteen wins by (T)KO. Can Malegarie’s chin hold up to Sandro’s strikes while continuing to hunt for submissions? Can Sandro avoid Malegarie’s many traps? It should be quite exciting to find out.

And the number-one reason to watch Bellator 47 is…

1. Pat Curran vs. Ronnie Mann has “Sleeper Hit Of The Year” potential.

You really couldn’t have asked for a better fight than this one. This should’ve been the finals of the tournament, realistically. Pat Curran has already won a Bellator tournament, and he took Eddie Alvarez’s best for five straight rounds, so he’s definitely one of the best fighters in Bellator. Ronnie Mann is a great fighter period, he’s a versatile all-rounder that’s very entertaining and has both KO power and serious submission ability. This one will probably go all over the place before it’s over, and it should be a blast to watch every second of it.

So there you have it, fans and friends: five great reasons to tune in and see Bellator 47.