Bellator may have settled their beef with Dave “Pee Wee” Herman (19-2) by giving him a fight on Thursday’s Bellator 31 card in Lake Charles, La., but they certainly are not going out of their way to promote him. In fact, there is no mention anywhere, on the website or in their press releases (so far) that he is even fighting.
ProMMAnow.com spoke with Herman about his promotional invisibility to get his thoughts but he said he has not really been online, had not even noticed and was just happy to be fighting.
Herman was originally slated to fight Ricco Rodriguez but Ricco had to pull out due to an apparent knee injury. Herman confirmed his new opponent is Michal Kita, a 10-4 heavyweight out of Poland, who has won all his fights via stoppage, six by (T)KO, four by submission.
Prior to losing his most recent bout via TKO to Damian Grabowski back in June, Kita had been on a six fight win streak, fighting for M-1 and a couple of smaller promotions in Poland and Russia.
Herman is coming off a disqualification loss to Ramaeu Thierry Sokoudjou after incapacitating Sokoudjou with an illegal knee in the second round at the Abu Dhabi Fighting Championship’s debut show back in May.
Prior to that Herman had won three fights in a row, all by knockout, scoring victories over Jim York, Don Frye and Josh Barnes. And just like his Bellator 31 opponent, all of Herman’s wins have come via stoppage (15 (T)KO’s, four submissions). If Bellator is not going to promote the fight, hopefully at least it will be televised.
Here is a full listing of the Bellator 31 fight card, including the local feature fight card: “Local feature fights finalized for Thursday’s Bellator 31 in Lake Charles, La.“