A heavyweight showdown between Cheick Kongo
and Sergei
Kharitonov will serve as the main event for
Bellator 265.
Promotion officials announced the pairing on Tuesday. Bellator 265
takes place at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Aug.
20 and will also see Adam Borics
face Jay-Jay
Wilson in a featherweight No. 1 contender bout in the evening’s
co-headliner. The main card airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m.
PT.
After an eight-bout winning streak under the Bellator banner from
June 2015 to February 2019, Kongo is winless in his last two
promotional apppearances. A heavyweight title shot against Ryan Bader
ended in a no contest due to an accidental eye poke at Bellator
226, and the 46-year-old Frenchman returned to drop a split verdict
to Timothy
Johnson in his most recent outing at Bellator 248 last
October.
The 40-year-old Kharitonov will get back in the Bellator cage for
the first time since November 2019, when he suffered a second-round
TKO defeat to Linton
Vassell at Bellator 234. Most recently, the Russian veteran
scored a first-round knockout victory over Oli
Thompson at Parus Fight Championship this past November.
Borics has won three straight fights since being submitted by
Darrion
Caldwell in the featherweight grand prix. The Hungarian is 17-1
as a professional, with wins over the likes of Pat Curran,
Aaron
Pico and Jeremy
Kennedy.
New Zealand’s Wilson has been victorious in his first eight
professional outings — including five within the California-based
promotion. Most recently, he earned a second-round TKO of Pedro
Carvalho at Bellator 257 on April 16.