The anticipated rematch between Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen and Fabian Edwards has been removed from the Bellator London card, the promotion announced on Tuesday.
The fight will be rescheduled with the new date expected to be announced in the coming days. The new main event will be Leah McCourt vs. Sara Collins per Bellator MMA.
Eblen (15-0) is coming off a very close split-decision victory over Impa Kasanganay at PFL vs. Bellator in February. The Bellator middleweight king has beaten the likes of Gegard Mousasi, Anatoly Tokov, Kasanganay and Edwards.
Edwards (13-3) earned a second shot at Eblen when he took a decision over Aaron Jeffrey in March. He holds wins over Mousasi, Jeffrey, Charlie Ward and Lyoto Machida.
No word as to why the fight was rescheduled as of yet.
The new main event of McCourt and Collins come into Bellator London off wins in late 2023.
McCourt (8-3) finished Sarah McMann at Bellator 300 last October and had been promised a fight with Cris Cyborg, but the bout never came about. Popular thought was that Kayla Harrison would be the one to challenge Cyborg next, but Harrison subsequently signed with the UFC.
Add on top of that the PFL-Bellator merger and the promotion has yet to even acknowledge McCourt as the #1 contender for Cyborg’s title.
Collins (5-0) will ride her undefeated record into Bellator London off a split-decision win over Sinead Kavanagh at Bellator 299.
Bellator London is as follows:
- Leah McCourt vs. Sara Collins
- Simeon Powell vs. Rafael Xavier
- Luke Trainer vs. Laurynas Urbonavicius
- Marc Diakiese vs. Tim Wilde
- Archie Colgan vs. Manoel Sousa
- Mike Shipman vs. Eslam Abdul Baset
- Joseph Luciano vs. Steven Hill
- Ciaran Clarke vs. Zebenzui Ruiz
- Darragh Kelly vs. Dmytrii Hrytsenko
- Eman Almudhaf vs. Daiane Silva
