{"id":286117,"date":"2018-09-27T16:11:17","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T23:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=286117"},"modified":"2018-10-13T09:47:24","modified_gmt":"2018-10-13T16:47:24","slug":"exclusive-bellator-206s-dakota-zimmerman-excited-to-play-the-underdog-role-in-mma-debut-vs-keri-melendez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/dakota-zimmerman\/exclusive-bellator-206s-dakota-zimmerman-excited-to-play-the-underdog-role-in-mma-debut-vs-keri-melendez\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE | Bellator 206’s Dakota Zimmerman ‘excited’ to play the underdog role in MMA debut vs Keri Melendez"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Bellator 206 this Saturday night, the highly skilled counterpart to Gilbert Melendez, Keri Melendez welcomes newcomer Dakota Zimmerman to the ranks of the pros.<\/p>\n

Although Melendez is only 2-0 in her professional MMA career, she has built up a solid reputation as a kickboxer thus earning her a deserved spotlight.<\/p>\n

In Melendez’ third pro\u00a0bout, she’ll be taking on the debuting Zimmerman who is getting a very big opportunity on one of the biggest cards of the year against a star in the making.<\/p>\n

“I was pretty excited [to get this opportunity],” Zimmerman\u00a0told BJPenn.com’s Drake Riggs at Bellator 206’s media day<\/a>. “Actually, her last fight I watched the weigh-ins for it, I watched all of it and I couldn’t imagine fast-forwarding being offered to fight her, it’s pretty cool, pretty exciting. I have a lot of respect for her, for her standup and I’m honored. I’m really excited.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For Zimmerman, her last bout as an amateur came in 2016 so she’ll have a gap between MMA fights. However, she did stay active as she competed in a Golden Gloves boxing match in the meantime.<\/p>\n

When it comes to each fighter, Melendez is obviously the one with the more well-known name as she’s the wife of Gilbert and an established kickboxer. Despite this, Zimmerman is more than fine with being the underdog and is confident in her abilities.<\/p>\n

“It makes me excited [to be the underdog]. I think that going into something where I know that the majority of the world is doubting me…it just made me train that much harder.<\/em><\/p>\n

You can see in my other fights, my amateur fights, that I can take a hit but I wasn’t movin’ real well. We worked a lot on becoming lighter on my feet, being on my toes more. I’m confident everywhere [the fight goes].”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Constantly working on her game overall, Zimmerman believes that it will be her jiu-jitsu that she will utilize to its fullest to secure the victory on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Melendez vs Zimmerman was originally set to be the first bout on the main card but a featherweight clash between Gaston Bolanos and Ysidro Gutierrez has since been bumped up into that spot. Thus finalizing the main card as such:<\/p>\n

Middleweight – 185lbs:\u00a0 (C)Gegard Mousasi vs. (WW C)Rory MacDonald<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Heavyweight – 207-265lbs: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Welterweight – 170lbs: Douglas Lima vs. Andrey Koreshkov<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Featherweight – 145lbs: Aaron Pico vs. Leandro Higo<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Strawweight – 115lbs: Keri Melendez vs. Dakota Zimmerman<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Featherweight: Gaston Bolanos vs. Ysidro Gutierrez<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com<\/a> on 9\/27\/2018<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Bellator 206 this Saturday night, the highly skilled counterpart to Gilbert Melendez, Keri Melendez welcomes newcomer Dakota Zimmerman to the ranks of the pros. Although Melendez is only 2-0 in her professional MMA career, she has built up a solid reputation as a kickboxer thus earning her a deserved spotlight. In Melendez’ third pro\u00a0bout, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54445,"featured_media":286120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[39596,2674],"tags":[39617],"yoast_head":"\nEXCLUSIVE | Bellator 206's Dakota Zimmerman 'excited' to play the underdog role in MMA debut vs Keri Melendez | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At Bellator 206 this Saturday night, the highly skilled striker Keri Melendez welcomes newcomer Dakota Zimmerman to the ranks of the pros.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/dakota-zimmerman\/exclusive-bellator-206s-dakota-zimmerman-excited-to-play-the-underdog-role-in-mma-debut-vs-keri-melendez\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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