Patricky
Freire will defend his lightweight crown against Sidney
Outlaw at Bellator 283 on July 22.
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Promotion officials announced the headlining bout on Tuesday.
Bellator 283 takes place at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma,
Wash., and will also see Douglas
Lima square off against Jason
Jackson in the evening’s co-main event, while Usman
Nurmagomedov meets Chris
Gonzalez at lightweight in another featured contest. The main
card airs on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
Three preliminary bouts were also confirmed for Bellator 283:
Adam
Piccolotti vs. Tofiq
Musayev at lightweight; Romero
Cotton vs. Dalton
Rosta at middleweight and Gadzhi
Rabadanov vs. Bobby King at
lightweight.
Freire claimed 155-pound gold at Bellator 270, when he defeated
Peter
Queally via second-round TKO in their rematch on Nov. 5. The
36-year-old “Pitbull” brother has competed under the Bellator
banner since 2011, compiling a 15-8 mark and earning wins over the
likes of Benson
Henderson, Josh
Thomson, Ryan
Couture, Roger
Huerta and Saad Awad, to
name a few.
Outlaw has been victorious in three of four promotional
appearances, with his only loss coming at the hands of Michael
Chandler at Bellator 237. Most recently, the Dante Rivera
BJJ product submitted Myles Jury
with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their clash at
Bellator 261 in June 2021.