The Top 5 Reasons To Watch Bellator 48

On August 20, Bellator will hold its highly-anticipated “Bellator 48” event, featuring Pat Curran taking on Marlon Sandro in the finals of Bellator’s “Summer Series” Featherweight Tournament. Also, Bellator Heavyweight Champion Cole Konrad faces multi-promotion veteran Paul Buentello in a non-title fight. 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 48.

5. It’s the live finale of Bellator’s “Summer Series”.

Traditionally, Bellator has been grouped into “seasons”, each season booked around several tournaments. When one season ends, Bellator takes some time off and then comes back with their next season. Not so this year: the “Summer Series” has done a very good job of keeping Bellator fans interested and watching while Season Five gets planned out. This special mid-season series was a novel concept and it ended up working out very well, so it’ll definitely be worth it to see the finale.

4. The return of Rene Nazare.

Rene Nazare entered Bellator at a perfect 7-0 with five stoppages, and he has since defeated back-to-back opponents in Bellator, finishing both of them. At Bellator 48, Nazare takes on the little-known Juan Barrantes. But, it being Bellator, there’s a strong chance that Barrantes will come in as an unknown and leave us with a very good performance. If not, this will be another dominant victory for Nazare and he’ll set himself up as the man to beat in the next Bellator Lightweight tournament.

3. Ricco Rodriguez takes on Seth Petruzelli

Although it may be a bit of an oxymoron, Ricco Rodriguez has been quietly making waves since 2009, when he started what has since become a major rebirth. Currently, Rodriguez is on a very interesting twelve-fight win-streak that includes many stoppages. But is he ready to stop fighting mostly in regional promotions and against regional competition? We’ll find out just that when he faces Seth Petruzelli, who is definitely a big step up in competition even though his recent run in the UFC didn’t amount to much.

2. Paul Buentello actually has a shot at defeating Cole Konrad.

Buentello may have washed out of the UFC in his most-recent run, but let’s not forget that the UFC is the UFC and Bellator is Bellator. That’s not said to disrespect Cole Konrad, that’s said to give Paul Buentello the credit he rightfully deserves. Konrad is a very hungry and very talented upstart, and one of the best ways to grow him both as a fighter and as a marketable star is to have him fight hungry veterans. This should be a great fight.

And the number-one reason to watch Bellator 48 is…

1. Pat Curran and Marlon Sandro should be an excellent encounter.

Whoever wins this fight not only gets the next shot at the Featherweight Champion, they’ll have a real shot at beating that champion. Curran and Sandro have an amazing amount of experience, and they’re both very gifted fighters. This has all the makings of a bonafide “sleeper hit”.

So there you have it: five great reasons to tune in and see Bellator 48.