It’s not unusual for fighters to compete against people they have history with, or for camps to have allegiances that connect to the opposite corner. Yet every now and again there’s a fight that comes up where there’s more going under the surface than just two combatants taking their shoes off.
Emmanuel Sanchez is fighting Marcos Galvao in the co-main event at Bellator 175 on Friday night in Chicago, about 90 miles from Milwaukee where Duke Roufus runs his gym. Roufus will be cornering Sanchez, who is coming off a big majority decision victory over Georgi Karakhanyan in January.