‘Flying Cage’ set to make U.S. debut at Bellator 183 in San Jose

Bellator 183: “Henderson vs. Pitbull” takes place this Saturday night (Sept. 23, 2017) at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., featuring a main event between former World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight champion “Smooth” Benson Henderson going toe-to-toe with knockout specialist Patricky “Pitbull” Freire.

That mixed martial arts (MMA) fight, among others, will be contested inside a cage never seen before in the United States.

Bellator MMA has used its trademark Bellator “Flying Cage” before at events in Torino, Italy, and Budapest, Hungary, among other far-flung locales, but this will be the first time that a Bellator event in North America has seen this format. The steel structure is suspended over the ring and lowered to a platform underneath, enabling Bellator to change on the fly (hence the name) from a kickboxing ring to an MMA cage.

Indeed, the Bellator card set for San Jose that night includes a slew of kickboxing matches set to air at a later date on Spike, including a Featherweight title bout pitting Kevin Ross (44-11) against Domenico Lomurno (22-8) and a Welterweight title bout between Karim Ghajji (98-13-1) and Raymond Daniels (13-3). In other words, Bellator’s “Flying Cage” will be put to good use this weekend.

Check out complete line-ups for all of the Bellator Kickboxing and Bellator MMA fights below:

Bellator 183 “Henderson vs. Pitbull” (Spike TV):

Lightweight: Benson Henderson (24-7) vs. Patricky Freire (17-8)
Welterweight: Paul Daley (39-15-2) vs. Lorenz Larkin (18-6, 1 NC)
Heavyweight: Roy Nelson (22-14) vs. Javy Ayala (10-5)
Featherweight: Aaron Pico (0-1) vs. Justin Linn (7-3)
Lightweight: Adam Piccolotti (9-0) vs. Goiti Yamauchi (21-3)

Bellator 183 “Prelims” Card (Spike.com):

Women's Flyweight: Brooke Mayo (0-1) vs. Kaytlin Neil (0-2)
Welterweight: Fernando Gonzalez (1-0) vs. Alex Lopez (3-0)
Featherweight: Gaston Bolanos (1-0) vs. Brandon Laroco (1-1)
Light Heavyweight: Tony Johnson (4-3) vs. Mike Ortega (2-3)
Bantamweight: Justin Tenedora (1-0) vs. Ricardo Vasquez (Debut)
Women's Flyweight: Jaimelene Nievera (4-3) vs. Corina Herrera (3-3)
Lightweight: J.J. Okanovich (4-1) vs. Luis Jauregui (4-2)
Flyweight: Daniel Gonzalez (1-0) vs. Anthony Castrejon (1-1)

Bellator Kickboxing 7 “Ross vs. Lomurno:”

Featherweight: Kevin Ross (44-11) vs. Domenico Lomurno (22-8)
Welterweight: Karim Ghajji (98-13-1) vs. Raymond Daniels (13-3)
Middleweight: Joe Schilling (20-9) vs. Najib Idali (28-6-1)
Women's Featherweight: Jorina Baars (41-0-3) vs. Anke Van Gestel (34-11-3)
Featherweight: Joe Palacios (7-7) vs. Malaipet (145-31-6)

Bellator Kickboxing “Prelims” Card:

Featherweight: Jacob Ycaro (Debut) vs. Jonathan Tan (Debut)
Women's Flyweight: Gloria Telles (2-0) vs. Shannah Gozo (5-1)

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