Join DAZN free for
30 days and live-stream fight night anywhere!
Bellator MMA has just seen its big event shaken
up on fight day.
First reported by
MMA Fighting on Thursday, two bouts have been scratched from
Bellator 250. Both Veta
Arteaga and Nick Newell
have tested positive for COVID-19, and they have been pulled from
their respective pairings against Desiree
Yanez and Zach Zane.
The news has since been confirmed by ESPN,
and Yanez has since posted about the scrapped Oct. 29 fight on her
Instagram.
Yanez, who was aiming to make her promotional debut, wrote the
following:
“*sigh* well guys…my fight is unfortunately canceled tonight due
to my opponent getting tested positive for COVID. I really don’t
know what to say other than I was more than ready to battle and
still am. Bellator MMA is going to get this matchup back as soon as
they possibly can. I am beyond devastated, but everything happens
for a reason. More time to prepare. I love you all and the support
has been so unreal to me. Don’t worry, the fight will happen soon
enough. And luckily for me, Bellator MMA is stuck with me for a
good while. To my sponsors, I will be honoring you guys for
whenever we get this matchup going again. I love y’all and couldn’t
do this without all. I love all my fans, my coaches, my managers,
and my teammates for constantly sticking by my side! My time is
coming. I just know it.”
Previously set to make her first appearance in Bellator, Yanez
signed with the company after a contentious split decision defeat
to drop her belt to Melissa
Martinez at a December Combate Americas card. The loss snapped a
four-fight win streak which saw “Dirty Dez” win the Combate title
when Paulina
Vargas broke her leg defending a takedown.
Her opponent Artega has lost her last two dating back to 2019,
although one of the two was a title fight defeat to Ilima-Lei
Macfarlane. Originally joining the ranks following her
successful MMA debut in 2016, Artega has put together a .500 record
with stoppage wins over Denise
Kielholtz and Brooke Mayo
along the way. Adding insult to injury, Artega actually missed
weight by .2 pounds, only to see her bout fall away after testing
positive for COVID-19.
Newell was looking to get back on the win column after a narrow
split decision setback to Luis Muro a
year ago. The Connecticut native won his Bellator debut a few
months prior, tapping out Corey
Browning with an early arm-triangle choke. “Notorious” has
stopped his foe in 13 of 16 career wins, with a wide majority by
submission.
Zane also appeared for the first time with Bellator in December,
taking his first career decision win over sizeable favorite
Nainoa
Dung. Prior to needing three rounds to beat a foe, all 13 wins
for “God’s Warrior” came by stoppage. The Hawaiian first stepped on
to a major stage at the third season of Dana White’s Contender Series, where he dropped
a decision to Justin
Gonzales to halt an eight-fight stoppage victory streak.
Due to the loss of these two fights, Bellator will be moving the
preliminary middleweight scrap between Dalton
Rosta (3-0) and Ty Gwerder
(5-1) to the main card. Bellator 250 is now down to eight fights,
and it will go down at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville,
Connecticut, on Oct. 29. It will be headlined by a middleweight
championship affair as Gegard
Mousasi defends his throne against current welterweight king
Douglas
Lima. The co-main event will still see Henry
Corrales take on Brandon
Girtz at featherweight.