Bellator Signs 'Razor' Rob, Held for Lightweight Tourney

Rob McCullough file photo: Jeff Sherwood | Sherdog.com

Bellator Fighting Championships has signed former WEC lightweight champion “Razor” Rob McCullough and 18-year-old Polish wunderkind Marcin Held to compete in the promotion's upcoming season four lightweight tournament.

McCullough started his career back in 2001. He made his professional debut at WEC 2 and proceed to win six of his first eight fights. “Razor” won the promotion's lightweight title at WEC 25 in 2007, defeating Kit Cope after Cope dislocated a rib. McCullough would successfully defend the title only once before falling to Jamie Varner at WEC 32 in 2008. A Muay Thai specialist, McCullough has earned over half of his 19 career victories by knockout. After his 2009 decision loss to Karen Darabedyan, the Huntington Beach kickboxer was released by the promotion. He signed with Tachi Palace Fights this year, going undefeated in his two fights for the promotion.

A brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Held has lost only once as a professional. The Pole made his debut in his home country in 2008 and has continued to fight exclusively in Poland since that time. Held did not taste defeat until May of this year, when he was defeated by Lukasz Sajewski by unanimous decision. He rebounded to win back-to-back fights against Brazilian Jean Silva and Slovenian Bojan Kosednar, respectively. Held is now lined up to fight Finland's Juha-Pekka Vainikainen on Nov. 6.