Bellator 249 has a slight change to its lineup. On Wednesday, sources confirmed to Cageside Press that middleweight Tony Johnson had withdrawn from his bout with Joseph Creer. In his place, Andrew Kapel has stepped up.
The event is set to take place on October 15 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The card is headlined by a women’s featherweight title fight between Cris Cyborg and Arlene Blencowe.
Johnson’s withdrawal from the Bellator 249 card was necessitated due to undisclosed injuries.
Joseph Creer will have just over a week to adjust his game plan for his new opponent. Creer (7-1-1), is 2-1 inside the Bellator MMA cage to date. He was last seen at Bellator 235 in December of last year, where he earned a unanimous decision win against Ty Gwerder. Creer’s only loss in the promotion came to Austin Vanderford, one of the top-ranked middleweights in the organization, and a high-profile fighter alongside wife Paige VanZant.
The man stepping up, Andrew Kapel (15-7), landed on most MMA fan’s radar after knocking out King Mo in Muhammed Lawal’s retirement fight. The 35-year old Kapel turned pro back in 2008, and is 1-1 inside the Bellator cage. He’ll enter Bellator 249 off a loss to John Salter in his most recent outing.
Bellator 249 currently consists of the following bouts:
Cris Cyborg (c) vs. Arlene Blencowe
Patricky Freire vs. Jeleel Willis
Ricky Bandejas vs. Leandro Higo
Saad Awad vs. Mandel Nallo
Curtis Millender vs. Joe Schilling
Albert Gonzales vs. Kastriot Xhema
Christian Edwards vs. Hamza Salim
Kyle Crutchmer vs. Kemran Lachinov
Mike Kimbel vs. Da’mon Blackshear
Steve Mowry vs. Shawn Teed
Andrew Kapel vs. Joseph Creer
