Australian kickboxer turned mixed martial artist, Peter Graham (8-5) has announced via social media today that the he has signed with Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships).
“I am now very happy to tell all my friend,Fans and Family that I just signed with Bellator!!! Thank-you to all who believed in me,” Graham posted on his facebook page.
Based out of Sydney, Graham started his martial arts career in Kyokushin Karate before moving to kickboxing where he was a regular on the K-1 circuit, where he is best known for knocking out bad boy Badr Hari with a “Rolling Thunder” spinning kick that broke his opponent’s jaw. During his kickboxing career, Graham defeated the likes of Sam Greco, Mark Hunt and Paul Slowinski among others.
Graham got the opportunity to compete in mixed martial arts in 2008 while competing competitively over in Japan. Graham won only a single fight in his first six outings in MMA with losses coming to the likes of Kazuyuki Fukita and Rolles Gracie. Since then though, Graham has won seven straight fights which no doubt caught the eye of Bellator MMA. All seven wins have come via a KO or TKO which includes a win over Russian fighter Aleksander Emelianenko.
Bellator MMA is regarded as the 2nd largest mixed martial arts promotion in the USA with the fights usually structured around tournaments in each weight division. The winner of the respective tournaments are then declared the number one contenders and get a shot at the reigning Bellator champion of that division.
Graham will compete in the heavyweight division where Russian fighter Alexander Volkov is the reigning champion. No word at the moment as to when Graham may make his debut and who his opponent will be.
