August’s Bellator 298 continues to grow, and on Monday the Sioux Falls, South Dakota card added a promising bantamweight bout.
That fight finds UFC veteran Enrique Barzola (19-7-2) paired up with hot prospect Jaylon Bates (7-0), in a fight that almost certainly represents Bates’ toughest test to date.
Bellator officials announced the booking on social media on Monday.
Bates enters the fight after picking up a win over fellow 135lb prospect Jornel Lugo back in February. The fight wound up going to the judges, with Bates winning his second straight split decision on the scorecards.
Barzola, winner of The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America 2 in 2015, returned to the win column in March with a unanimous decision victory over Erik Perez at featherweight. It will be back to bantamweight at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls on August 11, 2023 however.
Sitting at #10 in the Bellator MMA official rankings, Jaylon Bates sits just one spot behind #9-ranked Enrique Barzola at the moment.
The Bellator 298 card is headlined by welterweights Logan Storley and Brennan Ward, with the following match-ups reported for the event to date:
- Logan Storley vs. Brennan Ward
- Valentin Moldavsky vs. Steve Mowry
- Dalton Rosta vs. Aaron Jeffery
- Sidney Outlaw vs. Islam Mamedov
- James Gallagher vs. James Gonzalez
- Lucas Brennan vs. Weber Almeida
- Leandro Higo vs. Nikita Mikhailov
- Diana Avsaragova vs. Justine Kish
- Alfie Davis vs. Aalon Cruz
- Dayana Silva vs. Katerina Shakalova
- Max Rohskopf vs. Jairo Pacheco
- Jerrell Hodge vs. Marcirley Alves da Silva
- Michael Blockhus vs. Eli Mefford
- Mukhamed Berkhamov vs. Dante Schiro
- Jaylon Bates vs. Enrique Barzola
