A former middleweight and an ex-lightweight will meet in the middle
at the first of two Bellator MMA Hawaii shows in April.
According to sources close to the situation,
Bellator 278 will be gaining an interesting preliminary match
in the welterweight division on April 22. Dante
Schiro (8-3) will be making his return to the Bellator cage,
and he will be taking on Hawaii’s Scotty Hao
(5-3). The two will come to blows inside of the Neil S. Blaisdell
Center in Honolulu.
Schiro made his organizational debut in August 2021 when he took on
top contender Logan
Storley, and fought the vaunted wrestler to a close split
decision. That win snapped a two-fight finish streak for the
Wisconsin native, who has previously tapped Victor
Moreno in 2020 and then knocked Kenny
Robertson out earlier in 2021. As a pro, the Chosen Few Gym
representative celebrates a finish rate of 87%, with none of his
stoppages coming any later than 8:48 in a bout. Schiro started his
career at middleweight, picking up three of his first four wins in
that division before shifting gears to 170 pounds.
Hao introduced himself to the company in 2019, when he took on
Keoni
Diggs when Bellator traveled to Hawaii that year. Against
Diggs, he succumbed to the first finish defeat of his career,
tapping out a rear-naked choke in the second frame. Since then, he
claimed his first victory on the scorecards when he overcame
Timothy
Teves in 2020. This will be Hao’s first appearance at 170
pounds since a King of the Cage contest in 2017.
Bellator 278 will go down at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center in
Honolulu on April 22, with a women’s flyweight championship affair
on tap for its headliner. Juliana
Velasquez will look to defend her title against powerful
wrestler Liz
Carmouche in the main event. It is currently unclear if
Enrique
Barzola will take on another comer with Josh Hill
withdrawing from their bantamweight tournament alternate bout. If
not, a 135-pound tourney qualifier between Jornel Lugo
and Danny
Sabatello will likely take the co-headliner spot.