MMA: Bellator 29 Makes Stop in Milwaukee

Bellator CEO and founder Bjorn Rabney is bringing the noise to Milwaukee in an MMA event that will feature some pretty good fighters.

The excitement around here should be well-received and sold out.

Smaller venues suit Rabney just fine, as he cited sold out shows in Kansas City and Louisville.

When I talked to him by phone Tuesday, he was pretty excited to bring his product north from their headquarters of Chicago.

And after being in the fight business almost three years, the future of Bellator fighting is bright.

There will be nine fights at the Rave/Eagles Club Thursday, and according to Rabney, there's not a bad seat in the house, even though this venue is smaller in capacity.

From those nine fights, two heavyweight semifinal fights, a main feature, and special feature will be televised on Fox Sports Net, beginning at 7 p.m. CST.

In one heavyweight semifinal, Damian "Polish Pitbull" Grabowski will fight two-time NCAA wrestling champion from Minnesota, Cole "Polar Bear" Conrad.  Both looked very intimidating at the weigh-ins Wednesday.

British fighter Neil "Goliath" Grove, who's a knockout artist at 6'6" and 280, will have his hands full with Russian Alexey "Boa Constrictor" Olernik.

There should be a decent battle between Matt Major and Brett Cooper.

The special feature fight on national TV will give Jameel Massouh the due justice he deserves.

If there's one fighter who deserves the recognition, it's Massouh. Since he lives in Kenosha, WI and not a big city, he's been flying under the radar. That radar must be very low, because his 23-7 record with seven knockouts and 11 submissions speaks for itself.

Massouh, at 5'10", has the advantage over his opponent in 5'7" Nick Mamalis. Their battle included a catchweight at 140. Mamalis weighed in at 139.6 pounds and Massouh at 142. After Massouh weighed in, you can guess what he did next.  He put on a sauna suit and ran some steps to lose the two pounds.

Can you believe that the winner of the heavyweight division will walk away with $100,000?

The semifinal winner's purse isn't too shabby, either, with the two emerging winners taking home $35,000.

Rabney, to his credit, didn't rule out returning to Milwaukee in the future.