Bellator London Preview: MVP vs Melillo

Bellator London Preview: MVP vs Melillo

By Dan McConnell

Tonight the Bellator European series will return to the SSE Arena, Wembley for the sixth and final edition of this calendar year.

Fighters from the UK, Italy, Ireland, Denmark, Scotland and Wales will look to continue to show what the European mixed martial arts scene has to offer.

London born Michael ‘Venom’ Page (15-1) will look to extend his winning streak after his flying knee-knockout over Richard Kiely at Bellator Dublin in September. He takes on late replacement in Italian welterweight Giovanni Melillo (13-4) who stepped in to replace the injured Derek Anderson.

After suffering his first defeat to Douglas Lima in the Bellator welterweight Grand Prix, MVP is on a collision course for a rematch against the Brazilian 170-pound champion with a victory in London.

The co-main event of the night sees an all-British middleweight clash between two of the best talents produced from the UK MMA scene.

Fabian ‘The Assassin’ Edwards (8-0) puts his undefeated record on the line against former BAMMA middleweight champion Mike ‘Seabass’ Shipman (13-2).

Edwards is currently on a 3-fight win streak with Bellator coming into this one, while Shipman suffered a shock second-round KO at Bellator 223 in June to Costello Van Steenis.

Edwards and Shipman have already clashed this week, clearly showing their discontent for each other and how much is at stake inside the cage this weekend.

Main-eventer MVP and Shipman are fellow London Shootfighter team mates and will hope that they both can come away with victories.

Who will continue to push their stock up the middleweight rankings for a possible title shot at 185-pound champion Rafael Lovato Jr’s crown?

Also, on the main-card features former BAMMA lightweight and welterweight champ Terry ‘The Dominator’ Brazier (13-1) who makes his third Bellator walk. He will face debutant Soren ‘The True Viking’ Bak. The Dane currently holds a 13-1 record, and is coming off a successful 5-fight win streak with the Cage Warriors promotion.

Winning the Cage Warriors lightweight title had Bak’s foot in the door for the UFC to come calling. He then took on and defeated Morgan Charriere for the interim Cage Warriors featherweight title.

Injury prevented ‘The True Viking’ from fighting for the 145-pound reward and becoming a two-weight world champion.

Many thought the UFC should come calling, but it was Bellator and President Scott Coker who quickly snapped up the top prospect!

We will see a packed card throughout the night with former Cage Warriors featherweight Aiden Lee, former Bellator Birmingham main-eventer Tim Wilde, Scottish men Chris Bungard and Robert Whiteford, as well as Ireland’s Charlie Ward and former Kickboxing champion Denise Kielholtz feature.

There will be plenty of entertainment to keep the London crowd on the edge of their seats. Bellator London airs live at 10pm on Channel 5 in the UK.