Bellator MMA
Bellator MMA is heading again to Hawaii for a second consecutive 12 months of back-to-back occasions. The promotion will host Bellator 294 and Bellator 295 on the Neil S. Blasdell Center in Honolulu on Friday, April 21 and Friday, April 22, respectively.
The promotion advised Hawaiian information outlet KHON2 that Liz Carmouche will defend her Bellator ladies’s flyweight championship in a rematch towards DeAnna Bennett on the Friday card. Interim bantamweight champion Raufeon Stots and Patchy Mix will conclude the $1 million Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix the following night at Bellator 295.
Carmouche is an ideal 5-0 since signing with Bellator after a failed bid for Valentina Shevchenko’s UFC ladies’s flyweight championship. Carmouche has stopped 80% of her Bellator opponents, together with a profitable debut towards Bennett and a pair of title wins towards former champion Juliana Velasquez. Bennett has gone 3-0 since being submitted by Carmouche in what was additionally Bennett’s Bellator debut.
Bellator 295 is one thing of a homecoming for Stots. The interim bantamweight champion made his Bellator debut in Honolulu in 2019. He additionally defeated Juan Archuleta with a highlight-reel head kick in Honolulu final 12 months to turn out to be the interim champion. A subsequent win over Danny Sabatello put Stots inside attain of the $1 million event prize. Mix entered the Grand Prix as a darkish horse. He impressed everybody by defeating event favourite Horiguchi in Hawaii final 12 months and suffocated Magomed Magomedov to safe his place within the finals.
Bellator will load each playing cards with Hawaiian fighters. Yancy Medeiros, who made a profitable Bellator debut in Hawaii final 12 months, will battle Charlie Leary. Former flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane will compete on the primary card. Additionally, Keoni Diggs, Kai Kamaka III and Sumiko Inaba are all anticipated to take part.
Bellator ran an analogous pair of occasions final 12 months. Bellator 278 and Bellator 279 befell on the similar Honolulu venue on back-to-back nights in April 2022. Carmouche controversially defeated Velasquez on night time one to win the Bellator flyweight championship. Cris Cyborg efficiently defended her ladies’s featherweight championship towards Arlene Blencowe later that weekend.
