Weight Class: Heavyweight The current Bellator heavyweight champion, Vitaly Minakov is another big man with a huge upside. A sambo champion before entering Bellator, Minakov defeated the aforementioned Volkov for the heavyweight strap in a swift first round TKO, and would then defend the belt against Bellator's biggest heavyweight signing to date: Cheick Kongo. Kongo was a free agent after his last UFC run, and the UFC had interest in re-signing him. He'd always sort of hung around the top 15 to top 10 as a solid gatekeeper, and had enough of a name that he could draw in a co-main event, or perhaps a Fight Night event. Instead of returning to the UFC however, Kongo would elect to head to Bellator, where he would enter the season 9 heavyweight tournament and win with ease - only to lose a five round decision to Minakov in a fight everyone expected him to win. Due to the nature of the fight - a decision, slow, without much action - it wasn't quite a signature win for Minakov, but the Russian has twelve finishes in his career, and is undefeated at 14-0. Tell me the UFC wouldn't take an undefeated 14-0 fighter who has wins over legit talent like Kongo and Volkov. Next up for Minakov, however, is a rematch with Volkov.