When Matt Mitrione meets Sergey Kharitonov in the heavyweight main event of Bellator 225 at Webster Bank Arena on Saturday night, the two men will be making history.
Bellator 225 will be the first MMA event to be held in Bridgeport and the first held by a major promotion after CES MMA held two fight cards earlier this year in Hartford.
“To everyone who brought this and made it happen today, first of all, from all of us in the city of Bridgeport, welcome, but also thank you,” Bridgeport mayor Joe Ganim said at a Thursday press conference. “We’re just happy to have you here.”
Bellator has a longstanding relationship with Connecticut and the Mohegan Sun Arena. Bellator president Scott Coker said the promotion has held more events at the Mohegan Sun than any other venue in the world, but wanted to expand to other parts of the state now that MMA has been legalized.
“I feel very honored,” he said. “Everybody in mixed martial arts has worked so hard. Not just myself, anybody that’s a promoter that’s been in this business has worked hard to try to get the laws passed and everything cleared to have mixed martial arts. Because it was a sport that wasn’t accepted, say 10, 12 years ago.”
Bellator 225 will feature two prominent Connecticut natives. Milford’s Nick Newell — by far Connecticut’s most well-known MMA fighter — will make his Bellator debut against Corey Browning (5-2) in a lightweight bout. Newell (15-2), who was born without a left hand, last fought on a CES card in May and earned a submission win over Antonio Castillo Jr. He has a one-fight contract with Bellator, but Coker said there’s an opportunity for more fights if he looks good on Saturday.
Waterbury’s Mike “The Savage” Kimbel, one of Bellator’s top prospects, will face Chris Disonell (3-3). Kimbel (3-1) has fought for Bellator since he turned pro, and Coker said Kimbel is on the “fast track” and the plan is for him to get a world title shot next year. Kimbel last fought in June, when he earned a split decision win over Sebastian Ruiz.
Mitrione, a former NFL defensive lineman turned fighter, has competed at Mohegan Sun many times before. The arena hosted his first meeting with Kharitonov in February that ended as a no-contest when Kharitonov could not continue after an accidental groin kick.
“I’ll be honest with you – Mohegan’s been really good to me,” he said. “But I’m happy that we’re out of it, because we finally get a taste of local culture. At casinos, you can’t really do that that much. Even in Vegas, you’re surrounded by casinos all the time, so you don’t get a flavor of what it is. So now that we’re out, we’re actually in Bridgeport, it’s nice.”
As for what the environment will look like on Saturday night?
“I expect it to be savagely electric,” Kimbel said.
