The newest addition to the Bellator family, Sergio Pettis, will throw down with Alfred Khashakyan at Bellator 238 in January.
Bellator 238 is shaping up to be a huge card for the company. Their first event of 2020, the show just got a little bigger, with the debut of Sergio Pettis pending. One of the company’s biggest free agent signings of late, Pettis (18-5) will face Alfred Khashakyan (11-4) in a bantamweight fight at the L.A. show.
The news was initially reported by MMA Junkie. A Bellator official subsequently confirmed the match-up to Cageside Press.
Pettis competed fourteen times under the UFC banner, bouncing between the flyweight and bantamweight divisions. The Wisconsin native went 9-5 from 2013 to 2019, finishing out his last UFC deal with a unanimous decision win over Tyson Nam. Pettis flirted with contendership, coming close to a title shot in 2017 before losing to Henry Cejudo, who would dethrone Demetrious Johnson in his very next fight.
Pettis would bounce back with a win over top contender Joseph Benavidez. But he’d falter again, losing to Jussier Formiga, then Rob Font in a bantamweight bout, before closing out his UFC run against Nam.
Like Sergio Pettis, Alfred Khashakyan will be making his promotional debut at Bellator 238. Khashakyan has the unfortunate distinction of having twice lost in front of Dana White — first on Lookin’ for a Fight against Ricardo Ramos, and later on the Contender Series against Sean O’Malley. Both opponents would earn UFC deals thanks to their victories over Khashakyan.
Since the O’Malley loss in 2017, however, Khashakyan has won three straight, with all three fights coming under the Lights Out Xtreme Fighting banner, led by former NFL star Shawne ‘Lights Out’ Merriman.
Bellator 238 goes down January 25, 2020 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
