Bellator 17: Cole Konrad vs Pat Bennett booked for May 6 in Boston

by Jesse Holland on May 3, 2010 3:33 PM EDT

Courtesy of a press release by Bellator Fighting Championships.

BOSTON, Mass. (May 3, 2010) - Two-time NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion Cole Konrad will make his Bellator Fighting Championships debut this Thursday at Bellator 17 in Boston, the organization officially announced today.

The 26-year-old Konrad, a protégé and training partner of reigning UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, will be looking to improve his record to 3-0 since making his pro debut in January. Both of his wins have come via first round stoppages.

On Thursday, he'll square off against Marcellus, N.Y., native Pat Bennett (1-0) in a "Heavyweight Feature Fight" at 265 lbs. The fight will be televised LIVE on FOX Sports Net and during Bellator highlight shows this weekend on NBC, Telemundo and the cable network mun2.

Tickets for the show, which will be held at Boston's historic Wang Theatre, are available at www.citicenter.com.

Konrad, who grew up in Neenah, Wis., won the NCAA wrestling championships at 285 lbs. while competing at the University of Minnesota in 2006 and 2007 and won a gold medal at the 2005 Pan-American Games. He has been training with Lesnar, a fellow University of Minnesota alumnus, for the past year.

"Brock Lesnar's dominance in the UFC has shown the impact that an elite, world-class heavyweight wrestler can have in MMA," said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. "Like the rest of the MMA world, we're expecting big things from Cole and are excited to see him in his first nationally televised fight under the Bellator banner this Thursday in Boston on FOX Sports Net."

Joining Konrad on the Bellator 17 card are three other highly anticipated bouts including a "Super Fight" between reigning Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez and UFC veteran Josh "The Dentist" Neer, a Bellator Season 2 lightweight tournament semifinal matchup between UFC veteran and MMA fan favorite Roger Huerta and budding star Pat Curran, and another lightweight tournament semifinal fight between "Submission of the Year" title-holder Toby Imada and former all-American college wrestler Carey Vanier.

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Boston's gettin busy

Fedor invented a language that incorporates Sambo and Kimuras.

So next time FEDOR is kicking your ass, don't be offended or hurt, he may be just trying to tell you he likes your hat.

by McArthur... on May 3, 2010 3:34 PM EDT reply actions

How can a man with 5 fights have a protege?

by NNR (formerly NameNotRequired) on May 3, 2010 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Brockness, my friend Brockness

The world is a dangerous place to live - not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don't do anything about it. - Albert Einstein

by Ulf Murphy on May 3, 2010 3:49 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

LOL true that Ulf

It’s why we see all these envious fans not being able to understand how a man can do so well in only five fights!! It’s called hard work and determination and the fact that Brock is a insane specimen!!

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson

by Puck Head on May 3, 2010 4:04 PM EDT up reply actions

You're telling me Brock's hard work and determination suddenly endowed him...

with years and years worth of technical submission and striking knowledge? When it’s someone like Big Nog with JDS for example then yes you can see how he can be a disciple for the man but with Brock, kinda hard when he’s learning the game too.

by NNR (formerly NameNotRequired) on May 3, 2010 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions

2 time NCAA champions would have proteges that happen to be NCAA champions also, I would think.

You are only looking at it from an mma perspective. They are both still Noobs in mma. They just both happen to be bigger, stronger and faster than your typical HW. In fact, chances are Konrad will enter the UFC with more fights under his belt than Brock.

The world is a dangerous place to live - not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don't do anything about it. - Albert Einstein

by Ulf Murphy on May 3, 2010 4:30 PM EDT up reply actions

JJ is just one art

I know in Brazil the competition is in JJ tournaments is great but physically JJ doesn’t compare to wrestling and thats why more times than not a superior wrestler will dictate were the fight takes place over a superior JJ artist. Brock doesn’t need to be a black belt when defending against JJ or using the basic subs such as a choke armbar or guillotine were his grappling dominance will keep his opponent in a position were he can’t pull of a easy sub and were Brock can feed him some lunch boxes.

Even when Brock was in the WWE he trained 4 days a week and ran for miles when he could. The man lives on a farm and doesn’t farm, instead he has his own gym were he spends his days with no computurer and a shared phone with his wife he keeps things very simple. Since he wasa kid he’s been training and hasn’t stopped just because you can’t grasp the fact that WWE star that actually is ripped from hard work over roids NNR. Brock was pretty much raised to be a MMA star it’s to bad he didn’t get into it earlier like Cole here.

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson

by Puck Head on May 3, 2010 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions

When Brock was in WWE he roided and trained his butt off to look good.
Would have been interesting to see how he would have looked if he had been tested from say 16 to now.

y'all just ain't me.

by RoBerto. on May 3, 2010 8:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Says who you LOL most WWE pictures you see are air brushed Roberto

Don’t make shit up just becasue he’s big, he was on a human growth hormone that was legal at the time but phased out of them when the became illegal. It’s like saying becasue Pride guys were known for taking steroids and was ok in Pride at the time so I guess by your assumption the same would go for Fedor? He’s been tested in Coollege and in MMA and passed so unless you have some proof your claims are just ignorant.

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson

by Puck Head on May 3, 2010 8:37 PM EDT up reply actions