There has been a shuffling of the deck for Bellator MMA’s soon-to-launch light heavyweight grand prix.
On Friday, promotion officials announced via press release that the light heavyweight quarterfinal between Corey Anderson and Dovletdzhan “Wolfhound” Yagshimuradv would be bumped from Bellator 256 to the following event, Bellator 257, on April 16. Moving from that card to the next, meanwhile, will be the much-anticipated debuts of Yoel Romero and Anthony Johnson. That pairing joins Bellator 258 on May 7.
No specific reason was given for the changes. However, Bellator MMA CEO Scott Coker was quoted as saying that “Like everyone, we had a few hurdles with travel issues and had to move some things around, but I’m pleased that we were able to reschedule these bouts quickly. We now have three stacked events in a row featuring quarterfinal matchups on SHOWTIME, while also adding other incredible fights to each of these cards.”
Bellator MMA’s first event of 2021 takes place on April 2. That card, Bellator 255, sees Patricio Pitbull take on Emmanuel Sanchez in a featherweight grand prix semifinal.
Bellator 256, on April 9, breaks down as follows with the changes:
Main card
Ryan Bader vs. Lyoto Machida – light heavyweight grand prix quarterfinal
Liz Carmouche vs. Vanessa Porto
Adam Borics vs. Jeremy Kennedy
Cat Zingano vs. Olivia Parker
Preliminary Card
Dalton Rosta vs. Tony Johnson
Talita Nogueira vs. Jessica Borga
Cass Bell vs. Jornel Lugo
Cody Law vs. Nathan Ghareeb
Jaylon Bates vs. Jeffrey Glossner
Nainoa Dung vs. Izzy William
Diana Avsaragova vs. Tara Graff
John Douma vs. Will Smith
Bellator 257 on April 16 looks as follows:
Main Card
Vadim Nemkov vs. Phil Davis – light heavyweight grand prix quarterfinal/light heavyweight title fight
Corey Anderson vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov – light heavyweight grand prix quarterfinal
Veta Arteaga vs. Desiree Yanez
Preliminary Card
Lance Gibson Jr. vs. Marcus Surin
Grachik Bozinyan vs. Demarques Jackson
John de Jesus vs. Alfred Khashakyan
Bellator 258 on May 7, meanwhile, currently consists of the following:
Main Card
Juan Archuleta vs. Sergio Pettis – bantamweight title fight
Anthony Johnson vs. Yoel Romero – light heavyweight grand prix quarterfinal
Patchy Mix vs. James Gallagher
Preliminary Card
Josh Hill vs. Raufeon Stots
Weber Almeida vs. Johnny Soto
Johnny Eblen vs. Daniel Madrid
Henry Corrales vs. Keith Lee
Alan Omer vs. Bryce Logan
