Of all the fan-friendly experiments that Bellator has tried over the years, the upcoming welterweight grand prix might inspire the most purely cut, suite-quality onomatopoeia. Ed Ruth versus Neiman Marcus? Boom! Paul Daley versus Michael Page? Bang! Douglas Lima vs. Andrey Koreshkov? Borscht! Rory MacDonald vs. Jon Fitch? Bap!
It’s a nice crop of eight, with Lorenz Larkin and Yaroslav Amosov waiting in the wings as alternates. Yet the set-up is made all the more compelling in that the welterweight champion MacDonald will risk his belt at every leg of the bracket.