The Bellator 124 card scheduled for September 12th at the Compuware Arena in Plymouth, Michigan will have a Light Heavyweight title fight between champion Emanuel Newton and challenger Joey Beltran as its main event. Look for Newton to open a solid favorite for the fight when it opens up at the sport books.
Beltran is a solid veteran, and he has improved his overall game since dropping down to 205 lbs. He also realizes this run with Bellator is the best it is going to get, because at this point in his career a return to the UFC is unlikely. Beltran won his last outing, against veteran Vlad Matyushenko, and new Bellator Presdient Scott Coker was being pressured to get Newton back in the ring ASAP.
Newton is a fighter who at 30 years old, is in the prime of his fighting career. He is 11-1 in his last 12 fights, and that consistency and ability to win and pull through has shown itself as his overall opponent level improved. Newton is riding high, as he is the man who with two very definitive wins wiped out the career of erstwhile ‘King’ Mo Lawal. He avenged the one loss on his record by beating Attila Vegh in his last outing via Split Decision. The big name in the company, Quinton Jackson, said he is not interested in fighting Newton, a measure of the respect he has earned in Bellator’s locker room.
Newton has a pair of trilogies to complete, one with Vegh, who he is 1-1 with and noth fights went to a split call by the judges, so a third match is inevitable. The other, against Lawal, is contingent on ‘King’ Mo actually wining some fights and reaching his potential.
So Newton has to be careful about looking past Beltran, who is a savvy veteran. In his last outing, against aging wrestler Matyushenko, he finished the Russian by putting him on his back and going with a north-south choke, a staple of a wrestler’s arsenal. If Newton makes a mistake, Beltran can capitalize. In his long career however, Beltran has never been a full five rounds, while Newton has. The longer the fight goes, the more Newton can settle into a pace and outwork him or finish a tired Beltran. Those are the most likely scenarios at the finish.
