Two championship fights will top the card for a Bellator
MMA event in Paris on May 17.
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Usman
Nurmagomedov will defend his lightweight crown against Alexandr
Shabily in the evening’s main event, while Patrick Mix
will face Magomed
Magomedov in a bantamweight championship clash in the
co-headliner. The promotion on Wednesday announced the featured
bouts for the event, which will be entitled Bellator Champions
Series Paris.
Bellator Champions Series Paris takes place at Accor Arena in Paris
and also includes two other main card matchups: a middleweight No.
1 contender’s bout between Gregory
Babene and Costello
van Steenis and a heavyweight showdown pitting Slim
Trabelsi against Louie
Sutherland. Additionally, Mansour
Barnaoui will lock horns with Yusuke
Yachi in a preliminary lightweight contest.
Nurmagomedov is undefeated in 18 professional outings. His last
bout, which was initially a unanimous decision win against Brent
Primus at Bellator 300, was overturned to a no contest after
the Dagestani
tested positive for an undisclosed banned substance.
Nurmagomedov was not stripped of his belt, however.
Shabliy, meanwhile, is in the midst of an undefeated run that dates
back to 2017. Most recently, the undefeated Russian took a
five-round verdict over Patricky
Freire at Bellator 301 this past November.
Mix will carry a 19-1 mark into his rematch with Magomedov. In
their first meeting, “Patchy” submitted Magomedov with a guillotine
choke in the second round of their bout at Bellator 289 in December
2022. More recently, Mix unified the bantamweight title with a
submission of Sergio
Pettis at Bellator 301.
Magomedov has competed once since the aforementioned loss to Mix,
as he rebounded to submit Danny
Sabatello at Bellator vs. Rizin 2 to run his career mark to
20-3.
Dates and locations for the entire Bellator Champions Series
schedule were also revealed on Wednesday. They are as follows:
Saturday, June 22 – Bellator Champions Series Dublin – 3Arena
Saturday, September 7 – Bellator Champions Series San Diego –
Pechanga Arena
Saturday, September 14 – Bellator Champions Series London – OVO
Wembley
Saturday, October 12 – Bellator Champions Series Chicago – Wintrust
Arena
Saturday, November 16 – Bellator Champions Series Paris – ADIDAS
Arena
Tuesday, December 31 – Bellator Champions Series – TBD