The long-awaited showdown between Bellator lightweight champion Patricky Pitbull and number one contender Sidney Outlaw is set for July.
Pitbull (24-10) vs. Outlaw (16-4) will headline Bellator 283 on July 22, 2022 at the Emerald Queen Casino and Hotel in Tacoma, Washington. Promotion officials announced the news in a press release distributed Tuesday. Several other key bouts were also revealed for the card.
Outlaw has been patiently waiting for his title shot since the start of the year. “Da Gun” has lost just a single fight since 2016, against former multi-time Bellator lightweight champ Michael Chandler. Most recently, he defeated UFC alum Myles Jury by submission last June.
Pitbull captured Bellator’s lightweight title last November, after brother Patricio vacated the title. He defeated Peter Queally to claim gold, a rematch of their May 2021 meeting, which Queally won due to a doctor’s stoppage.
Past Patricky Pitbull vs. Sidney Outlaw, a number of big match-ups will feature as part of Bellator’s Washington state debut. In one, former welterweight champ Douglas “The Phenom” Lima (32-10) will face Jason Jackson (15-4), a fight that was supposed to have featured at Bellator London last month.
Also on the July card, the undefeated Usman Nurmagomedov (14-0) will face Team Alpha Male’s Chris Gonzalez (7-1) in a lightweight fight.
The following Bellator 283 fights were announced Tuesday:
- Patricky Pitbull vs. Sidney Outlaw – for the Bellator MMA lightweight championship
- Douglas Lima vs. Jason Jackson
- Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Chris Gonzalez
- Adam Piccolotti vs. Tofiq Musayev
- Romero Cotton vs. Dalton Rosta
- Gadzhi Rabadanov vs. Bobby King
