On Friday night, one of the Netherlands’ best fighters will make his debut in the Bellator cage — a stoical, mildly bemused, completely nonplussed torrent of fist and foot who has largely gone unsung.
Talking about the middleweight Costello van Steenis, of course.
Van Steenis is Gegard Mousasi’s protégé, and he’ll show up to the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., to kick off what he hopes will be a championship run against Steve Skrzat on the prelims. Van Steenis benefits from having an impossibly villainous name — Costello van Steenis — yet at 8-1 he emerged as one of the most coveted names fighting in the European theater.