Bellator 287 goes down next Saturday, October 29th at the Allianz Cloud Arena, Milan, featuring the lightweight clash of Adam Piccolotti v Mansour Barnaoui, while England’s Fabian Edwards takes on Irish veteran Charlie Wardat middleweight.
This is a huge opportunity for Italy’s current crop of rising stars. Amongst them is our very own Manuela ‘The Butchers Daughter’ Marconetto (3-1) who is making her Bellator Debut against Chaira “Beauty Barbie” Penco (7-3)
It’s Italian vs Italian as Manuela looks to make it 4 wins in a row and put the rest of the strawweight division on notice in front of a home crowd on the biggest platform in her career so far.
Marconneto has been working super hard in the gym, she is not taking this lightly at all and the hard work is paying off!
Penco is no slouch though, having won 2 out of her last 3, and is looking to make it a hat trick against Bellator’s newest prospect.
But that’s not the only GBTT alumni enjoying a night in Milan, literally the nicest man in MMA Luke “The Gent” Trainer (5-1) is taking on Lucas “La Cobra” Alsina (11-3) in one of the most exciting fights on the Prelims.
Luke is coming off a decision loss to Simon Biyong, but all this has done is light a fire under the 26-year-old. Alsina is a vicious striker who has won 4 of his last 5 by strikes. I grabbed a quick word with the gent and asked him if this had played into his preparations for this weekend’s fight.
“I have prepared for this guy a little differently than normal. I have been with a boxing coach Paul Day from Stevenage and he has sharpened up my hands to make sure I’m comfortable on the feet”
Just because Luke is focused on his striking, does not mean his grappling isn’t being sharpened.
“In terms of Grappling I have just upped my jiu-jitsu, so if it does happen to go down to the ground, then I have been training with a bunch of killers and doing extra rounds of rolling to make sure I’m ready anywhere it goes on the ground.”
“Obviously the wrestling we cover at GBTT, the level is super high and I’m more than confident with my takedowns. I have been working really hard to make my game as well-rounded as possible!”
I finished by asking how his move to GBTT has gone.
“I love it at Great Britain Top Team. It’s the best move I have made in my career so far! Super excited to be with the team of professional savages. I owe a lot to my coaches Brad, Ash, and my training partner Simeon Powell”
You can watch Bellator 287 on BBC THREE from 9 pm this Saturday 29th October.