Melvin Manhoef is eyeing Bellator gold and he wants to retire on top.
This Saturday night (April 8) inside the Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy, Manhoef will get a middleweight title rematch against champion Rafael Carvalho. The bout will serve as Bellator 176’s main event. In their first bout back in May 2016, Manhoef lost a controversial split decision.
With the rematch set for this weekend, “No Mercy” is looking to live up to his nickname once again and capture Bellator gold for the first time in his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) career. During a recent interview with Flo Combat, Manhoef said that if he captures gold, he wants to retire as the champion:
“The first fight, he was a little bit passive. I didn’t have an answer immediately to him. Usually guys are coming forward and he was backing up, he was not committing to his strikes. That makes things hard. … When I become champion, I want to retire as champion and add something to the sport. I want to give some positive thinking, I want to change the sport for Dutch fighters. I want to be part of getting the sport on a higher level in Europe and in the Netherlands.”
