Bellator MMA announced today that “MacDonald vs. Fitch” will take place at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 27, 2019, concluding the opening round of the promotion’s Welterweight Grand Prix tournament. Rumblings of this fight emerged last week before “Fedor vs. Bader” took place in the friendly confines of The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., this past weekend. It therefore came as little surprise when Rory MacDonald showed up during the broadcast to promote the upcoming card.
The bout between MacDonald (20-5) and his opponent Jon Fitch (31-7-1, 1 NC) will serve as both a Welterweight title defense for “Red King” and the final opening bout in the Welterweight Grand Prix. The winner will not only leave with the strap, but advance to the second round to face undefeated jiu-jitsu ace Neiman Gracie (9-0).
Bellator 214’s television broadcast also revealed that Hawaiian sensation Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (9-0) would return for a title defense against Veta Arteaga (5-2). With back-to-back wins over Emily Ducote and Denise Kielholtz, Arteaga is as ready as any Flyweight in the division to step up and challenge the dominance of Macfarlane’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu and ground game.
As of this writing, these are the only two fights announced for the card. The biggest takeaways from today’s release is that the “Shark Tank” has been confirmed as the site of these two world title fights, and that the entire card airs exclusively on DAZN.
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