If you weren’t paying attention, it would have been easy to dismiss the relevance of Shawn Bunch’s return to the Bellator cage last November.
Three years had passed since Bunch’s last appearance for the promotion, a submission loss to future bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell. To get another chance, he had to grind his way up through the minor leagues — a new experience for him given that his first six pro bouts took place inside the Bellator cage — where Bunch’s greatest obstacle was not the level of competition, but the fact that few fighters were willing to sign up for a bout with an opponent who had major league experience and a sterling Division-I wrestling career.