Makovsky-Dantas, Good-Maynard Set for Bellator 65 in Atlantic City

Bellator Fighting Championships announced Friday that bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky will defend his title against Season 5 tournament winner Eduardo Dantas at Bellator 65 on April 13.

Taking place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., the event will also feature a welterweight tournament qualifier between former 170-pound kingpin Lyman Good and three-time Bellator vet LeVon Maynard.

Makovsky, 29, has not lost since 2009, posting a perfect 6-0 record in the Bellator cage. “Fun Size” debuted with the Chicago-based promotion in 2010, capturing the organization’s 135-pound belt by besting Ed West in the Season 3 tournament finals. Since his title-winning performance, Makovsky has competed twice in non-title bouts, finishing Chad Robichaux and Ryan Roberts last year.

“I want to dominate everyone I compete against, but at the same time, I don’t feel like I have to make any kind of statement,” Makovsky said in the official release. “I just want to continue getting better and do the best I can every time I enter the cage. I don’t pay attention to the rankings because I feel like that's going to put extra pressure on me. I just look forward to defending my belt on April 13.”

Regarded as one of the bantamweight division’s brightest prospects, Dantas, 23, battled his way to the Season 5 tournament crown this past fall, notching wins over Wilson Reis, West and Alexis Vila to earn his shot at Makovsky. “Dudu” has only lost twice in nearly five years as a pro and owns over half of his career wins by knockout or submission.

“I’m here at Bellator to win the bantamweight championship,” Dantas said. “I plan to not only win the title, but to keep it for many years to come.”

That´s an interesting titlefight. I don´t know who to pick.

Im leaning a little towards dantas I think his youth height reach and fight style may be too much for Makovsky

If we do BW rankings these guys will probably be among the top fighters.

^^^along with some of the fighters in the upcoming BW tournament form bell

Really looking forward to Funsize-Dantas. Leaning towards Dantas.

Tough fight to pick. Makovsky looked great in all his Bellator fights but the tournament Dantas was a part of had much better talent imo. There isn't much information to use to compare the two either really. Makovsky may have lost to Reis but this was early on in his career whereas Dantas knocked out Reis but IMO Reis looked pretty bad in that fight and didn't seem like the fighter that fought tooth and nail with Soto and Freire. Dantas beat West but Makovsky handled West easier than Dantas did imo.

I guess the big question is, can Makovsky outwrestle Dantas? I think he can. Dantas beat Vila but Vila's wrestling did not look Olympic caliber against Galvao or Dantas and Dantas looked oddly defensive probably for fear of the TD. Vila also seemed to slow down a lot after the first round against Dantas and Galvao. Like I said there isn't a lot of data to go on but I think Makovsky will outwrestle Dantas to a UD. At the same time though I wouldn't be surprised if Dantas size and reach was too much for Fun Size. The next tournament looks great too, Bellator's BW division keeps getting better and better. Since Aoki is coming over to fight Alvarez I would love to see Bibi come over and fight the winnier.

Frank Hill wrote:Tough fight to pick. Makovsky looked great in all his Bellator fights but the tournament Dantas was a part of had much better talent imo. There isn't much information to use to compare the two either really. Makovsky may have lost to Reis but this was early on in his career whereas Dantas knocked out Reis but IMO Reis looked pretty bad in that fight and didn't seem like the fighter that fought tooth and nail with Soto and Freire. Dantas beat West but Makovsky handled West easier than Dantas did imo.

I guess the big question is, can Makovsky outwrestle Dantas? I think he can. Dantas beat Vila but Vila's wrestling did not look Olympic caliber against Galvao or Dantas and Dantas looked oddly defensive probably for fear of the TD. Vila also seemed to slow down a lot after the first round against Dantas and Galvao. Like I said there isn't a lot of data to go on but I think Makovsky will outwrestle Dantas to a UD. At the same time though I wouldn't be surprised if Dantas size and reach was too much for Fun Size. The next tournament looks great too, Bellator's BW division keeps getting better and better. Since Aoki is coming over to fight Alvarez I would love to see Bibi come over and fight the winnier.

Yeah it would be great to see Bibiano against the Bellator fighters in either Bellator or DREAM.