The Light-Heavyweight Grand Prix kicks off
April 9th!
#BellatorOnShowtime is bringing you some light heavyweight
action in with the
#Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix. Who do you think
will walk away with that $?
#BellatorLHWGP pic.twitter.com/BjMxe5MmAC— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA)
February 9, 2021
The lineup for the eight-man Bellator light heavyweight grand prix
is now official.
The quarterfinals for the bracket will kick off at
Bellator 256 on April 9 with a pair of 205-pound matchups:
Ryan
Bader vs. Lyoto
Machida and Corey
Anderson vs. Dovletdzhan
Yagshimuradov. Meanwhile,
Bellator 257 on April 16 will see reigning champion Vadim
Nemkov square off against Phil Davis,
while Anthony
Johnson will meet Yoel Romero
in the other two quarterfinal pairings.
The semifinals of the grand prix are expected to take place
sometime in July, and the championship bout is currently slated for
October.
Bader and Machida initially fought at UFC on Fox 4 in August 2012,
with “The Dragon” scoring a second-round knockout victory. Bader
was briefly a two-division champion in Bellator but relinquished
the 205-pound belt in his most recent outing, a second-round TKO
loss to Nemkov at Bellator 244 this past August.
A former UFC light heavyweight champion, Machida has competed at
both middleweight and 205 pounds during his Bellator tenure. Most
recently, he dropped a split decision to Phil Davis at
in a light heavyweight affair at Bellator 245 in September.
Anderson is coming off a second-round TKO of Melvin
Manhoef in his promotional debut at Bellator 251. “Overtime”
has won five of his last six pro outings, a run that also includes
triumphs over Johnny
Walker, Ilir Latifi
and Glover
Teixeira.
Turkmenistan’s Yagshimuradov is a relatively unknown in the field.
The 31-year-old enters the bracket on an eight-bout winning streak
that includes seven triumphs in Absolute Championship Berkut, where
he was the organization’s 205-pound champion.
Nemkov is currently on a seven-bout winning streak in which he has
finished all but one of his opponents inside the distance. The
reigning light heavyweight champion’s lone bout to go to the judges
occurred against upcoming foe Davis, when he took a split decision
over “Mr. Wonderful” at Bellator 209 in November 2018.
A former Bellator 205-pound king, Davis has won three straight
fights since falling to Nemkov. The Alliance MMA product garnered
TKO wins over Liam
McGeary and Karl
Albrektsson in 2019 before edging Machida via split decision
last year.
Johnson will be competing for the first time since April 2017, when
he was submitted by Daniel
Cormier in a 205-pound title bout at UFC 210. “Rumble’s” list
of KO victims includes the likes of Teixeira, Bader, Jimi Manuwa,
Alexander Gustaffson and Antonio
Rogerio Nogueira.
Romero will make the move to light heavyweight after a lengthy run
as a middleweight contender in the UFC. “The Soldier of God” is
coming off a five-round decision loss to Israel
Adesanya in a 185-pound championship clash at UFC 248 in March
2020.