Former Bellator welterweight champion Andrey Koreshkov isn’t happy about his fairly inactive past few years, but what’s been a “very bad situation” seems to be finally looking up.

Koreshkov (21-2 MMA, 12-2 BMMA) returned after an 11-month layoff with a vengeance on Saturday at Bellator 203, and he needed a little more than a minute to finish Vaso Bakocevic (33-18-1 MMA, 0-1 BMMA). In addition to adding a second knockout to his winning streak, the liver-kick finish brought upon another reward.

“I’m (taking) part in the tournament, in the grand prix, and of course I’m very happy,” Koreshkov told MMAjunkie after his win, which aired on Paramount via tape delay from Foro Italico in Rome.

Koreshkov, of course, is referring to the the upcoming eight-man welterweight tournament that Bellator has recently announced. He said he now has a formal invite.

So that makes for a pretty perfect night for the 27-year-old ex-champ, at the expense of Bakocevic’s seven-fight winning streak. Asked whether his opponent offered him any unforeseen danger, Koreshkov said there was nothing there he hadn’t learned already from watching his opponent’s past fights.

As for the spinning back kick that did the trick so quickly, Koreshkov had been practicing it for quite some time and only needed the right advice to execute it at the perfect time (via Twitter):

“In this moment, I listened to my corner,” Koreshkov said. “My coach said, ‘Use the kick.’ I did it and (got the) knockout.”

With a rough patch behind him, Koreshkov can look forward to a tournament that, given Bellator’s 170-pound division, could offer him some interesting matchup possibilities. If fellow ex-champ Douglas Lima joins it, for example, it could mean a chance to close out their trilogy and avenge the Bellator 164 encounter that cost him the title.

Koreshkov, however, isn’t sweating that at the moment.

“Right now, I don’t know,” Koreshkov said. “For me, it doesn’t matter.”

For complete coverage of Bellator 203, check out the MMA Events section of the site.