Ryan
Bader and Valentin
Moldavsky will square off in a heavyweight championship
unification bout at Bellator 273 on Jan. 29.
Promotion officials announced the headlining matchup on Monday.
Bellator 273 takes place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz.,
and will also see former bantamweight king Darrion
Caldwell face UFC veteran Enrique
Barzola. The evening’s main card will air on Showtime at 10
p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while the prelims stream at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT
on Showtime Sports YouTube channel, the Bellator YouTube channel
and Pluto TV.
Bader’s last three promotional appearances have come at light
heavyweight. After losing the 205-pound belt in a second-round TKO
defeat to Vadim
Nemkov at Bellator 244, Bader entered the light heavyweight
grand prix, where he outpointed Lyoto
Machida in the opening round before falling to Corey
Anderson via TKO in just 51 seconds in the semifinals on Oct.
16. The Power MMA Team stalwart claimed heavyweight with a grand
prix run that included wins over Muhammad Lawal, Matt
Mitrione and Fedor
Emelianenko. His lone title defense against Cheick Kongo
at Bellator 226 ended via no contest due to an accidental eye poke
on Sept. 7, 2019.
Moldavsky, 29, enters the matchup with Bader on a six-bout winning
streak within the California-based organization. The Fedorteam
representative captured the interim heavyweight belt with a
five-round verdict over Timothy
Johnson at Bellator 261 on June 25. His ledger also includes
victories over the likes of Roy Nelson,
Javy
Ayala, Linton
Vassell and Karl
Albrektsson.