Bellator 174: "Coenen vs. Budd" goes down this Friday night (March 3, 2017) at WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Okla., featuring mixed martial arts (MMA) legend Marloes Coenen against the streaking Julia Budd for the promotion's inaugural women's Featherweight champion in Spike TV's main event.
Before that can take place, though, there's the little matter of Brandon Girtz vs. Fernando Gonzalez to attend to first -- two fighters who undoubtedly crossed paths in San Jose recently even though they had different opponents. Girtz came to California that night seeking to knock off the undefeated Adam Piccolotti at Lightweight. Even though he had a great opportunity late in the third round, he still went down via unanimous decision on the judges' scorecards. Gonzalez didn't fare nearly as well. In a bout roundly booed by a rowdy crowd at the "Shark Tank," "The Menifee Maniac" lost a split decision to Michael Page at Welterweight in the least exciting fight of Page's career.
In a recent interview with MMAmania.com, Girtz talks about moving up to 170 pounds to face Gonzalez and what he thinks of the long-time veteran as his foe in Thackerville.
"Fernando man, he's a great opponent, dude. He's a fighter in and out, dude. He's gonna come with plenty of heart, the guy likes to brawl, and he don't quit. I see this fight being one hell of a fight, 'Fight of the Year' kind of candidate."
Gonzalez was equally complimentary toward Girtz when interviewed, so the mutual respect may overshadow the fact that Girtz was not the original opponent.
"You know after Andrey (Koreshkov) got hurt they needed a good opponent. I believe not a lot of people are just gonna step up to fight Fernando on late notice, and that's how they gave me the call, knowing I wanted to fight and knowing I'm not one to back down from a great fight. I think that's how it got put together."
Girtz stands 5'7" with a 67" reach, while Gonzalez stands 5'9" with a 68" reach, so it's fairly close on paper, although Girtz concedes Gonzalez will have a size edge coming in.
"Fernando no doubt's gonna be the bigger guy out there, there's no doubt about that, he's fought at Middleweight before. This will be my first time up at 170, so there's no doubt he'd be the bigger guy, (but) I'm no small guy at 155, either. Stepping up I know he'll be bigger, but that's not to say he's gonna be stronger than me. He's going to need to use that weight, and I don't see it happening. We definitely all know I'll be the faster fighter out there."
I can't help but feel these fighters have scouted each other well given Gonzalez conceded the speed advantage to Girtz in his interview.
"Dude, this guy ain't no dummy. He's an intelligent guy, he's a great guy man. This isn't exactly a fight I was looking out there saying I wanted to fight this guy because I like this guy, man! He's a great fighter and he's a great guy. He already knows everything."
Is it possible then that already know each other too well especially given they fought on the same card last year?
"Yeah, you know I mean the world's crazy. It's put together like that and you know it's weird that we fought together, we've talked before, and like I said he's a cool dude. We already have that mutual respect for each other."
They'll have to put that respect aside to fight each other, but if all goes his way this weekend, Girtz wants to get right back into the mix again at Lightweight.
"155 is my weight class. Not to say I'll never come up to 170 again you know, to get a great fight or something like that, but to say I'm a 170 now? No. Doesn't matter if I go out there and beat Fernando in the first round, you know, it don't matter. I'm a (1)55 pounder."
With the recent loss by Josh "The Punk" Thomson, it's an interesting time to be a 155 pounder in Bellator, leaving the door open to new potential No. 1 contenders for division champion Michael Chandler. Girtz definitely wants to be on that list
"To say now that (Freire) is the No. 1 contender is a little dumb to me, given the last fight before that was against Chandler, and we saw what happened there. That just changed Bellator's plans, that changed everybody's plans with that win, so who knows what they're going to do? It's needing somebody to come through. I go out there, I beat Fernando and get another one at 155 I'm gonna be right there for that belt."
Unfortunately for Girtz, there's the little matter of his loss to the undefeated Adam Piccolotti that puts him one step down the ladder in the pecking order.
"You know I feel like Piccolotti is a great competitor, absolutely, but I feel like if you throw him into that 155-pound belt fight right there, you're doing a disservice to him. He's pretty green if you ask me. He got me, yeah he did, but he got me on one of my worst nights. I was not mentally there for that fight. He took advantage of it, yes, but did he destroy me in there? Hell no. There was never a time that he was just beating the crap out of me in there."
Given what he did to Piccolotti in round three he may have a point ... one he'd be happy to prove with a rematch.
"Oh, you better believe I want that fight back. I'm not yelling 'Rematch! Rematch!' instantly here, you know let him have that for a second, but we will fight again."
Don't miss Bellator 174 on Friday to see if Girtz can score a big win in Thackerville. Complete audio of our interview is embedded in the video player above and complete Bellator MMA coverage can be found right here on fight night.