As the Bellator MMA heavyweight throne sits empty, Cheick Kongo and onetime King of the Cage champion Tony Johnson are but two of the men interested in filling the vacuum left by the deposed Vitaly Minakov.
Kongo will meet Johnson in the Bellator 161 main event on Friday at the HEB Center in Cedar Park, Texas. In the bantamweight co-headliner, former two-division Bellator titleholder Joe Warren takes on American Top Team’s Sirwan Kakai. The rest of the four-fight main card features a women’s flyweight battle pitting Anastasia Yankova against Veta Arteaga and a lightweight match pairing Derek Campos with Djamil Chan.