Vitaly Minakov Finally back with Bellator

Former Bellator HW champion Vitaly Minakov has re-signed with the promotion,  Minakov (21-0) hasn't fought for Bellator since 2014. He will not return as champion. Coker said tentatively plan is for him to fight once and then fight GP winner.

I think he should fight the winner of the heavyweight grand prix since he never actually lost the title.

I really hope he signs with them and fights the champ of the GP as well.

Minakov reportedly close to re-signing with Bellator.

Kingfedor wrote:Minakov reportedly close to re-signing with Bellator.

I hope they get this done and just give him the belt back. Then the winner of the GP can fight him for it or vice versa.

CDF47 wrote:

Kingfedor wrote:Minakov reportedly close to re-signing with Bellator.

I hope they get this done and just give him the belt back.  Then the winner of the GP can fight him for it or vice versa.

I wouldn't give him the belt as the GP is already half way through. I would give him the first shot against the winner.

Rocksoldier84 wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

Kingfedor wrote:Minakov reportedly close to re-signing with Bellator.

I hope they get this done and just give him the belt back.  Then the winner of the GP can fight him for it or vice versa.

I wouldn't give him the belt as the GP is already half way through. I would give him the first shot against the winner.

That makes sense too. He was stripped of the title a while ago so makes sense to have him fight for it back.

CDF47 wrote:

Rocksoldier84 wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

Kingfedor wrote:Minakov reportedly close to re-signing with Bellator.

I hope they get this done and just give him the belt back.  Then the winner of the GP can fight him for it or vice versa.

I wouldn't give him the belt as the GP is already half way through. I would give him the first shot against the winner.

That makes sense too.  He was stripped of the title a while ago so makes sense to have him fight for it back.

I think another thing is that these fighters were pretty much told they would win the belt if they won and they remaining participates probably wouldn't be too happy if it just turned into a title shot.

Imagine if Fedor wins and we get Fedor/Minakov.

Rocksoldier84 wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

Rocksoldier84 wrote:

CDF47 wrote:

Kingfedor wrote:Minakov reportedly close to re-signing with Bellator.

I hope they get this done and just give him the belt back.  Then the winner of the GP can fight him for it or vice versa.

I wouldn't give him the belt as the GP is already half way through. I would give him the first shot against the winner.

That makes sense too.  He was stripped of the title a while ago so makes sense to have him fight for it back.

I think another thing is that these fighters were pretty much told they would win the belt if they won and they remaining participates probably wouldn't be too happy if it just turned into a title shot.

Imagine if Fedor wins and we get Fedor/Minakov.

Yeah, that's true.

Fedor/Minakov would be unreal.

Former Bellator HW champion Vitaly Minakov has re-signed with the promotion, Scott Coker confirms with ESPN. Minakov (21-0) hasn't fought for Bellator since 2014. He will not return as champion. Coker said tentatively plan is for him to fight once and then fight GP winner.

Kingfedor wrote:Former Bellator HW champion Vitaly Minakov has re-signed with the promotion, Scott Coker confirms with ESPN. Minakov (21-0) hasn't fought for Bellator since 2014. He will not return as champion. Coker said tentatively plan is for him to fight once and then fight GP winner.

Great news. I wonder who they will put him against prior to the GP winner for the belt. Probably someone who goes deep in the GP or one of the GP alternates or maybe a tune-up fight.

I would like to see him fight the runner up of the grand Prix.

westcott123 wrote:I would like to see him fight the runner up of the grand Prix.

Makes sense to me since they are giving him one fight prior to fighting the winner of the GP who will be the champion. He will have one contender fight.

Another good option would have been to have him fight the GP winner immediately but I understand giving him a contender fight instead.

It doesn't really seem to make sense to have him fight the GP runner up, or winner for that matter, as his first fight back, because of the timing. The semifinals haven't happened yet, and so the final is a ways off still. Even fighting one of the semi-finals losers would involve a lot of time out, post-signing.

Roy Nelson would make sense. Or Cheik Kongo, or whoever else.

I don't personally want to see him fight Sergei Kharitonov necessarily, unless it is a true number 1 contender fight, where the winner gets the GP winner. That would be fine. But if it's just a setup fight for Minakov to fight the GP winner with no such terms for Kharitonov, it doesn't make sense to me. I wouldn't want to see Kharitonov put out as a stepping stone.

I typed that in mid-thought, but matching Minakov in a true #1 contender fight against one of the top available contenders would make decent sense.

The alternative would be to put him in a tune-up fight of sorts.

Hell, put him in with King Mo.

Kongo, Nelson; perhaps Kharitonov or perhaps even Crocop all make sense, but again, the winner should fight for the title afterward against the GP champion.

Or, give him an easier fight first, and a second fight pre-GP winner if the timing makes sense. In that way, there could be a no 1 contender mini tournament.

How about this: Sergei vs Kongo/Nelso and Minakov vs Kongo/Nelson, with the winners presumably fighting, if the timing is workable.

Or, Sergei vs Cro Cop and Minakov vs Kongo, and the winners fight.

That might be even better, but I'm not sure if Cro Cop would be available/willing. If it did go that way, Cro Cop would have the opportunity to fight Kongo in the unofficial 4-man tournament final and avenge an old loss.

Just batting around ideas.

Cro Cop-Sergei is a legend fight and number 1 contender-type fight rolled into one, in its own right.

nodogoshi wrote:It doesn't really seem to make sense to have him fight the GP runner up, or winner for that matter, as his first fight back, because of the timing. The semifinals haven't happened yet, and so the final is a ways off still. Even fighting one of the semi-finals losers would involve a lot of time out, post-signing.

Roy Nelson would make sense. Or Cheik Kongo, or whoever else.

I don't personally want to see him fight Sergei Kharitonov necessarily, unless it is a true number 1 contender fight, where the winner gets the GP winner. That would be fine. But if it's just a setup fight for Minakov to fight the GP winner with no such terms for Kharitonov, it doesn't make sense to me. I wouldn't want to see Kharitonov put out as a stepping stone.

I typed that in mid-thought, but matching Minakov in a true #1 contender fight against one of the top available contenders would make decent sense.

The alternative would be to put him in a tune-up fight of sorts.

Hell, put him in with King Mo.

Kongo, Nelson; perhaps Kharitonov or perhaps even Crocop all make sense, but again, the winner should fight for the title afterward against the GP champion.

Or, give him an easier fight first, and a second fight pre-GP winner if the timing makes sense. In that way, there could be a no 1 contender mini tournament.

How about this: Sergei vs Kongo/Nelso and Minakov vs Kongo/Nelson, with the winners presumably fighting, if the timing is workable.

Or, Sergei vs Cro Cop and Minakov vs Kongo, and the winners fight.

That might be even better, but I'm not sure if Cro Cop would be available/willing. If it did go that way, Cro Cop would have the opportunity to fight Kongo in the unofficial 4-man tournament final and avenge an old loss.

Just batting around ideas.

Cro Cop-Sergei is a legend fight and number 1 contender-type fight rolled into one, in its own right.

Some good points. I am surprised you would not want to see him fight Kharitonov off the bat. I think that would be a good come back fight for him and a good fight for Kharitonov and a must see for the fans. There are many options as you mentioned but I think they either might have him wait out the GP runner up or give him a tune-up fight against a prospect he can smash on. I think they might be doing the tune-up fight.

What I was saying about Kharitonov is I don't want him to fight Kharitonov if it's billed as a stepping-stone fight, to set up Minakov for a championship fight should he win. That would be disrespectful to Kharitonov. I would like to see that fight, but if it would happen, it should be clear that it is a #1 contender fight, with whichever winner being in line for a title shot.

I would like to see Minakov vs. Mir as first fight for comeback.

How about, Sergei vs Nelson, Cro Cop vs Kongo, and Minakov vs Mir.

Followed up by (presumed winners--though these are potentially competitive fights and it's hard to presume too much) Minakov vs the tournament winner (Fedor), and Cro Cop vs Sergei.

Then, the winner of Sergei vs Minakov gets the next shot.

Meanwhile, King Mo fights tournament runner-up Matt Mitrione.

These are all just hypothetical matches, and hypothetical results. But, there are fights to be made, I reckon.

nodogoshi wrote:What I was saying about Kharitonov is I don't want him to fight Kharitonov if it's billed as a stepping-stone fight, to set up Minakov for a championship fight should he win. That would be disrespectful to Kharitonov. I would like to see that fight, but if it would happen, it should be clear that it is a #1 contender fight, with whichever winner being in line for a title shot.

Oh, I see. I must have just missed that part of what you were saying.

Rizin=PRIDEFC wrote:I would like to see Minakov vs. Mir as first fight for comeback.

That would be interesting. I think Minakov would finish him in the first much like Fedor did.

nodogoshi wrote:How about, Sergei vs Nelson, Cro Cop vs Kongo, and Minakov vs Mir.

Followed up by (presumed winners--though these are potentially competitive fights and it's hard to presume too much) Minakov vs the tournament winner (Fedor), and Cro Cop vs Sergei.

Then, the winner of Sergei vs Minakov gets the next shot.

Meanwhile, King Mo fights tournament runner-up Matt Mitrione.  

These are all just hypothetical matches, and hypothetical results. But, there are fights to be made, I reckon.

Would love to see Cro Cop vs. Sergei. Not sure he will ever be fighting for Bellator though. He's fighting for Rizin September 30th and on NYE. Not sure what his plans are for Bellator. I don't know if he could sustain handling 3 fights in 3 months to end his career.

Minakov vs. Fedor would be insane and would be a clear shot at the number 1 HW outside UFC. Would love to see Fedor there in the near future.

I would like if Bellator would return Tony Johnson, sign Alexander Emelianenko and couple of good Russian HWs like Ivan Shtyrkov. They could even make 2nd GP for 1st title contender.

Rizin=PRIDEFC wrote:I would like if Bellator would return Tony Johnson, sign Alexander Emelianenko and couple of good Russian HWs like Ivan Shtyrkov. They could even make 2nd GP for 1st title contender.

Sounds good to me. I'd like to see the same. With all these European signings would be nice to see some solid Russian HW pickups.