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Vila Looking For Fast Start Against Dantas at Bellator 59

Alexis Vila Plans on testing the chin of Eduardo Dantas on Saturday. | Photo: Dave Mandel



Alexis Vila began Bellator Fighting Championships' current bantamweight tournament with a bang, knocking out Joe Warren, the promotion’s outspoken featherweight king, with a brutal left hook at Bellator 51.

It was nothing new for Vila, who had finished his previous five opponents by knockout or technical knockout. Things didn’t go so smoothly for the American Top Teamrepresentative in the semifinals, however, as the Cuban eked out a contentious split decision over Marcos Galvao to advance to the bracket's final round.

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Vila says he was under the weather for his showdown with Galvao, but he vows to return to form at Bellator 59on Saturday when he squares off with Brazilian prospect Eduardo Dantas at Caesars Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J. At stake is a title shot against current bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky.

"I was a little sick going into my last fight with Marcos Galvao, but what was I going to do? I had to fight. There was no way in hell I wasn't going to fight. I'm going to fight, no matter what,” Vila said. “The world is going to see a much better Alexis Vila fight at Bellator 59, because now I actually feel well. Eduardo Dantas is going to see the difference, for sure.”

The 40-year-old Vila, a former Olympic bronze medalist and two-time world champion freestyle wrestler, is a late but successful arrival to mixed martial arts. Conversely, Dantas, a Shooto “Shootor's Legacy 4” South American champion, comes highly touted as one of the sport’s top 135-pound prospects at just 22 years old.

None of that seems to faze Vila, who believes his considerable punching power is the great equalizer that will transcend their difference in age.

Eduardo Dantas is young, and he might think I'm old or whatever, but when I hit him, I'm going to make him change his mind real fast,” Vila said. “I'm going to show him the difference between a boy and a man. When I punch him, he's going to realize that he's in serious trouble.”

Vila doesn’t plan on wasting time in asserting himself, either.

“I have to show [him] how strong I am right away in this fight. I'm going to let him know who's going to be the man in the fight, right away in the first round,” he said.

Dantas, whose route to the final has included triumphs over Wilson Reis and Ed West, is highly regarded in part because he is entrenched at Nova Uniao, where he counts UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo among his training partners. He carries a five-fight winning streak into his showdown with Vila.

However, those credentials don't dissuade Vila from thinking that he is Bellator’s future bantamweight title holder. In fact, he is confident that his mix of solid wrestling and dangerous boxing leaves him without peer in the weight class.

“I feel like I’m the best fighter in the world at 135 pounds right now. That’s what I’m out to prove every time I set foot inside that cage,” he said. “I have everything -- good wrestling, good standup. I’m stronger than Eduardo Dantas. I don’t know how he thinks he’s going to be able to beat me.”

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