The Brazilian welterweight returns to the Bellator cage seven months after first-round submission victory in his promotional debut, and several reasons led him to decide to wait this long to fight again.
Vasconcelos, who takes on John Mercurio on Saturday night at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., wants to impress one more time in his second Bellator appearance, and it had to be on this card.
“It was my decision to take this time off,” Vasconcelos told MMA Fighting. “I wanted to evolve as an athlete and to get my life in order here in the United States, because I had just moved five or six months before my last fight and I didn’t want to rush anything.