The only man to ever defeat current UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan has signed with Bellator MMA.
On Wednesday, Bellator President Scott Coker told CBS Sports that the promotion had signed former ACB champ Magomed Magomedov. The Russian bantamweight sports a 16-1 record, with his only loss coming to Yan. The duo split a pair of fights in 2016-17, with Magomedov winning the first meeting, and Yan winning the rematch.
Both fights went to the scorecards.
Aside from Yan, Magomedov, who last competed in 2018, holds wins over Damian Stasiak, and Said Nurmagomedov in an amateur bout.
The DagFighter athlete joins a suddenly red-hot 135lb division in Bellator, which features names like Sergio Pettis, Brett Johns, Ricky Bandejas, James Gallagher, and newly crowned champion Juan Archuleta. Archuleta won the bantamweight title last month, earning a unanimous decision win over another promising talent in Patrick “Patchy” Mix.
“My team and I continue to search the planet for the top up-and coming-fighters and we feel that Magomedov has the potential to be a world champion in the sport,” Coker told CBS Sports about the signing.
No debut date or opponent is set as of yet for Magomed Magomedov. However, it would not be surprising to see him paired off with one of the bigger names in the division as Bellator continues to develop the weight class.
Scott Coker’s promotion has signed a wealth of talent of late, including the aforementioned Johns, Usman Nurmagomedov, Rustam Khabilov, Jeremy Kennedy, Jared Scoggins (brother of ex-UFC flyweight Justin Scoggins), Bryce Logan, Levan Chokheli, Jaylon Bates (whose signing was first reported by Cageside Press), LFA champ Jaleel Willis, and Invicta FC flyweight champ Vanessa Porto. In addition, Alan Omer made his debut at Bellator 248, picking up a victory over Ryan Scope.
