5 Opponents for Bobby Lashley if he returned to Bellator

#4. Bobby Lashley vs. Linton Vassell

Linton Vassell - MMA Press Conference

Another opponent that would make sense for Bobby Lashley is former Bellator title-challenger Linton "The Swarm" Vassell. Throughout his Bellator career, Vassell has remained among the top in the light-heavyweight division. However, he decided to move back to heavyweight after back-to-back losses to former champions Phil Davis and Ryan Bader.

Vassell didn’t get off to a great start in his heavyweight return as he was defeated by Valentin Moldavsky. The loss to Moldavsky was the third-straight for Vassell and could’ve signaled the end of his tenure with Bellator. Fortunately, Vassell defeated Sergei Kharitonov by TKO and then followed that up with another TKO win over Ronny Markes.

After back-to-back TKO wins, Vassell is now right back in title-contention at heavyweight and is currently the number five ranked heavyweight in Bellator. Bobby Lashley would clearly have a size advantage and it’d be interesting to see how Vassell would deal with that.

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#3. Bobby Lashley vs. Tim Johnson

Photo credit: Lucas Noonan / Bellator MMA

Tim Johnson would be an excellent opponent for Bobby Lashley if he returned to Bellator. Johnson is a former two-time Division II All-American wrestler, so a bout with Lashley could become a technical wrestling battle.

Johnson has had some exciting moments in Bellator. After a win over Marcello Golm on the final fight of his UFC deal, Johnson began his Bellator tenure going 0-2.

With back-to-back knockout losses to Cheick Kongo and Vitaly Minakov, Johnson’s back was against the wall and he needed a win. Johnson did just that and relished the underdog role by defeating Tyrell Fortune and Matt Mitrione. Johnson then followed that up by avenging his loss to Kongo by splitting the decision in Kongo’s home country, France.

Many heavyweights have underestimated Johnson but that hasn’t fazed him at all. Instead, it seems to have motivated him even more to go in and knock his opponent out.

Regardless of Johnson's loss against 'The Last Emperor' Fedor Emelianenko, a fight between himself and Bobby Lashley still makes sense.