Bellator 214 “Fedor vs. Bader” takes place this Saturday night (Jan. 26, 2019) inside The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., marking the first of seven shows on the docket for Bellator this year. (Bouts streaming on DAZN can be watched here.)
Make that eight.
MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi confirmed that a long anticipated bracket of the Welterweight Grand Prix will take place April 27 in San Jose. Given it’s Bellator and the President is Scott Coker, one would think it will take place at SAP Center (the “Shark Tank”) but that has not been stated as such.
What we do know for sure is that Welterweight champion Rory MacDonald (20-5) will take his first fight since a one-sided loss to Gegard Mousasi in the same city last September in an attempt to gain the Middleweight title. Now, he will instead defend his Welterweight title against former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) and Professional Fighters League (PFL) champion Jon Fitch (31-7-1, 1 NC).
Fitch brings a five fight win streak into this bracket of the tournament, as well as a name that is used as a verb in mixed martial arts. To be “Fitch’d” is to have all of your offense stifled through an opponent’s superior wrestling and ground control. MacDonald will have to stuff his takedowns and light him up from all angles to successfully defend his crown.
No other fights have been announced formally (or otherwise) for this still-unnumbered event.
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