A heavyweight showdown between Linton
Vassell and Ronny
Markes has been targeted for
Bellator 254.
Sherdog.com confirmed the bout, which has not been finalized, with
a source close to the situation following an initial report from
MMAFighting.com. Bellator 254 takes place on Dec. 10 at Mohegan
Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, and is headlined by a women’s
flyweight championship tilt between Ilima-Lei
Macfarlane and Juliana
Velasquez.
A two-time light heavyweight title challenger, Vassell moved up to
heavyweight in 2019, when he fell to Valentin
Moldavsky in his big-man debut at Bellator 218. “The Swarm”
rebounded in his last outing, as he scored a second-round technical
knockout victory against Sergei
Kharitonov at Bellator 234 in November 2019.
Markes has been scheduled to make his promotional debut against
Josh
Barnett (twice) and Matt
Mitrione at two separate events, but on each occasion the
fights fell through for various reasons. The five-time UFC veteran
hasn’t competed since a second-round stoppage of Sigi
Pesaleli under the Professional Fighters League banner in June
2019.