Bellator’s return to London has taken a few hits, losing welterweight champ Yaroslav Amosov (currently serving in Ukraine’s military), and Douglas Lima vs. Jason Jackson.
On Tuesday, word of another fighter falling off the card made the rounds: Andrey Koreshkov is out of his fight with Paul Daley.
Instead of ex-welterweight champ Koreshkov, Daley (43-18-2) is now set to face Wendell Giacomo (9-2), who will be making his debut for the promotion.
U.K. paper Metro was first to report the news, which was later confirmed by Bellator MMA officials. No reason for Koreshkov’s withdrawal was given, but Daley confirmed to the outlet that the bout would indeed be his last. “This is going to be my last fight, I’m not going to go in there half-arsed,” he told the paper. “I haven’t had that motivation my last couple of fights.”
Daley had a three fight win streak snapped in his last outing, when he came up short against Jason Jackson. The unanimous decision loss put him at 1-1 for 2021, after a Comeback of the Year candidate against Sabah Homasi.
Giacomo, an LFA and Future FC veteran, has won his last two fights.
Bellator London/Bellator 281 will take place at the SSE Arena, Wembley in London, England on May 13, 2022. An interim welterweight title fight atop the card sees Michael Page up against Logan Storley. The following bouts have been reported for the event:
- Logan Storley vs. Michael Page – for the Bellator MMA interim welterweight championship
- Lyoto Machida vs. Fabian Edwards
- Denise Kielholtz vs. Kana Watanabe
- Paul Daley vs. Wendell Giácomo
- Luke Trainer vs. Simon Biyong
- Daniel Weichel vs. Rob Whiteford
- Oliver Enkamp vs. Mark Lemminger
- Kate Jackson vs. Elina Kallionidou
- Tim Wilde vs. Alfie Davis
- Andrew Fisher vs. Attila Korkmaz
- Charlie Ward vs. Alan Carlos
- Maciej Różański vs. Lee Chadwick
- Arunas Andriuskevicus vs. David Trallero
- Chiara Penco vs. Lanchana Green
