Bellator makes a goliath signing for heavyweight tournament

Neil "Goliath" Grove - a South African-born former rugby player who fought for the UFC during that organization's visit to his adopted hometown of London last year - will make his U.S. debut as part of Bellator Fighting Championships' upcoming Season 3 Heavyweight Tournament.

Grove, who stands six feet, six inches tall and has fought at as big as 280 lbs. in the U.K., has compiled an overall pro record of 8-2-1 since turning pro 3 ½ years ago with all eight of his wins coming via KO or TKO.

He earned widespread recognition throughout Europe early on in his career following a highlight-reel 10-second KO of former EliteXC, Pride and Sengoku headliner James Thompson and followed that up with an impressive TKO of UFC veteran James McSweeney.

Grove is the fourth confirmed participant in Bellator's forthcoming Season 3 Heavyweight Tournament along with undefeated European finisher Damian "The Polish Pitbull" Grabowski, Seattle-area KO artist Mike "300" Hayes and Georgia-based ground and pound specialist Scott Barrett. Additional announcements are expected this week. The tournament begins Aug. 12 on FOX Sports Net.

"I've been telling my manager for a long time that I'd love to fight in America because that's where I think all the best fighters are," Grove said. "I'm looking forward to showing off my skills to the American audience and all the Bellator fans."

Grove grew up in South Africa and played rugby for more than 20 years including a stint as part of one of his native country's top semi-pro teams. He moved to England in 1996 and worked for many years as a doorman at several of London's most popular nightclubs.

After being involved in a brawl with several unruly patrons, the massive heavyweight took an interest in honing his hand-to-hand combat skills and began training at a local Goju-ryu karate dojo. After just a few years, he earned his black belt and began to look at MMA as a natural next step.

He began his pro career in impressive fashion, carving a path of destruction through 2007 that included five first-round knockouts.

Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney called Grove "a big heavyweight with knockout power in both hands."

"Neil Grove is a giant man with an impressive record of knocking people out in dramatic fashion," Rebeny said. "He is a solid fit for our tournament and can be a big problem for whoever he draws."

An opening-round heavyweight tournament bout between Mike Hayes (12-3-1 MMA, 1-0 BFC) and undefeated South Korean fighter Hae Joon Yang (5-0 MMA, 0-0 BFC) is set.

The fight will be a featured attraction at Bellator 26, a source close to the event confirmed with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

The event takes place at the Kansas City Power & Light District in Kansas City, Mo.

As with all of Bellator's season-three shows, Bellator 26 airs live on FOX Sports Net with highlights packages on NBC, Telemundo and mun2.

Bellator officials previously announced Hayes' participation in the tourney, though Yang isn't yet official. The field of eight tournament participants eventually will be reduced to one, who will be crowned Bellator's first-ever heavyweight champion.

Hayes, who fought eight times in 2009 alone, enters the tourney with a four-fight win streak that includes a unanimous-decision win over Steven Banks at Bellator 21 in June. Early in his career, when Hayes won his first seven fights, he made a single appearance for Strikeforce and topped Matt Kovacs via decision.

Yang, a veteran of the SpiritMC and M-1 organizations, enters Bellator with a perfect 5-0 record that includes five first-round knockout victories (including a remarkable 14-second KO of notable Joaquim Ferreira, who owns a past victory over UFC contender Junor Dos Santos). Despite his knockout power, the military vet is an accomplished wrestler and is well-versed in Brazilian jiu jitsu.

IamFluffykins wrote:Yang, a veteran of the SpiritMC and M-1 organizations, enters Bellator with a perfect 5-0 record that includes five first-round knockout victories (including a remarkable 14-second KO of notable Joaquim Ferreira, who owns a past victory over UFC contender Junor Dos Santos).

Two-time NCAA wrestling champion Kole Conrad (4-0 MMA, 2-0 BFC) is the seventh official addition to Bellator Fighting Championship's upcoming heavyweight tournament.

Bellator officials today announced Konrad's participation in the eight-man field.

Konrad has already fought twice under the Bellator banner in non-tournament bouts. "King" earned a pair of unanimous decisions wins in his previous two outings.

The Wisconsin native and Brock Lesnar training partner stands 6-foot-5 and weighs-in at the division limit of 265 pounds.

"This tournament is going to provide me with the greatest test that I've faced so far in my fighting career," Konrad stated in today's release. "But this is exactly the kind of test I'm looking for. I want to get as many fights under my belt as I can and I want to keep fighting tougher guys. This tournament is going to allow me to do that.

"I'm taking it one fight at a time, but I'm planning on winning this tournament. If I wasn't planning on winning, I wouldn't bother showing up."

In addition to his NCAA titles, Konrad also earned a gold medal in the 2005 Pan-Am Games. Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney compared Konrad's abilities to a few of the promotion's season-two tournament winners.

"Cole Konrad's pedigree as a wrestler is obviously second-to-none, and he is quickly developing other aspects of his MMA arsenal, as well," Rebney stated. "Between (Joe) Warren at [145 pounds] and (Ben) Askren at [170 pounds], world-class wrestlers have had a very good run with Bellator, and Cole could certainly follow in those footsteps."

Konrad joins previously announced heavyweight participants Rogent Lloret (9-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC), Eddie Sanchez (12-3 MMA, 2-0 BFC), Scott Barrett (10-1 MMA, 1-0 BFC), Damian Grabowski (12-0 MMA, 0-0 BFC), Neil Grove (8-2-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC) and Mike Hayes (12-3-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC).