Season 7 lightweight tourney kicks off at Bellator 77 with Clementi vs. Sarnavskiy

Bellator's Season 7 lightweight tournament kicks off on Oct. 19, and eight fighters are confirmed for the field.

Bellator 77 plays host to the tourney's opening round, which takes place at Reading Eagle Theater in the Sovereign Center in Reading, Penn.

Matchups include Rich Clementi (44-21-1 MMA, 1-1 BFC) vs. Alexander "Tiger" Sarnavskiy (20-0 MMA, 0-0 BFC), Rene Nazare (10-2 MMA, 3-2 BFC) vs. Ricardo Tirloni (14-2 MMA, 1-1 BFC), Marcin Held (10-2 MMA, 2-1 BFC) vs. Murad Machaev (9-0 MMA, 0-0 BFC), and Dave Jansen (16-2 MMA, 3-0 BFC) vs. Magomed Saadulaev (14-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC).

The event's main card airs on MTV2 (and in high-definition on EPIX) following a preliminary card on Spike.com. Prelim matchups have not been announced.

The eight-man tournament will take place during the 12-week seventh season. The winner earns $100,000 in total pay and a guaranteed title shot. Undefeated Michael Chandler is the division's reigning champion.

The total combined record of the tournament participants is 137-30-1.

Clementi, a former UFC fighter, enters the tournament on a 3-1 run, which included a submission victory over Derek Campos at Bellator 70 earlier this year. Sarnavskiy, meanwhile, makes his Bellator debut with a perfect 20-0 record that includes 17 stoppages. In fact, the Russian, who's previously competed for M-1 and other Eastern European promotions, has been past the first round just twice in his past 10 fights.

Nazare opened his career with a 10-0 record that included three straight wins with Bellator. However, most recently, he's suffered decision losses to Jacob Kirwan and Thiago Michel, both under the Bellator banner. He now meets Tirloni, who was on an impressive 11-fight win streak (with nine stoppages) before a keylock loss to Rick Hawn at in a Season 6 opening-round tourney fight at Bellator 62.

Held, a 20-year-old Polish fighter, experienced his only stumble in Bellator when he rocked now-champ Chandler at Bellator 36 before succumbing to a triangle choke in a tournament-opening-round bout. Since them, he's posted three straight victories, which included a split-decision win over "The Ultimate Fighter 8" runner-up Phillipe Nover at Bellator 59. He takes on undefeated Russian fighter Machaev, who makes his promotional debut with seven stoppages in nine career wins.

Jansen, a former WEC and M-1 fighter, is 3-0 since a 1-2 run in the WEC. All of the wins have come with Bellator, where he's submitted Scott McAfee and Ashkan Morvari, and earned a decision victory over Jacob Kirwan. Saadulaev, meanwhile, makes his promotional debut after many fights with ProFC in his home country of Russia. He looks for his fourth straight victory.

The latest Bellator 77 card now includes:
•Rich Clementi vs. Alexander "Tiger" Sarnavskiy
•Rene Nazare vs. Ricardo Tirloni
•Marcin Held vs. Murad Machaev
•Dave Jansen vs. Magomed Saadulaev


http://mmajunkie.com/news/30386/season-7-lightweight-tourney-kicks-off-at-bellator-77-with-clementi-vs-sarnavskiy.mma

For this first round to win I'll be picking

Tiger
Tirloni
Held
Jansen

I'm going with Sarnavskiy to win the tournament.

Sarnavskiy vs. Chandler next yr. for the LW title would be sweet.