Bellator Kickboxing’s debut event goes down Saturday in Torino, Italy, and the California-based promotion has its sights on making kickboxing a major sport in America.
Bellator President Scott Coker understands the sport as well as anybody on the planet, and he knows he can’t build a monster without monsters. That’s why he perched world-renowned striker Melvin Manhoef atop Saturday’s marquee.
The Suriname-born Dutch resident is regarded as one of the premier knockout artists in both MMA and kickboxing, a skill set Coker is hoping to showcase on Saturday when “No Mercy” takes on relatively inexperienced Romanian Alexandru Negrea.