: Matt Mitrione (@mattmitrione)-Tyrell
Fortune (@FortuneOverFam)
and Linton Vassell-Marcelo Golm (@MarceloGolm)
added to
#Bellator262 main card.https://t.co/KwS4GHvtYH— Bellator Public Relations (@BellatorPR)
June 17, 2021
A pair of heavyweight battles and more are now a part of Bellator MMA’s July 16 card.
According to a press release on Thursday,
Bellator 262 has just been beefed up by four new matchups. The
organization further confirmed the
previously announced Ronny
Markes vs. Said Sowma
slugfest, while adding two more heavyweight matches, a women’s
featherweight tilt and a 145-pound bout between two prospects. The
bout that may serve in the co-main event sees top-10 heavyweights
Tyrell
Fortune (10-1, 1 NC) take on Matt
Mitrione (13-8, 1 NC).
Since suffering the first loss in his career – a first-round
knockout to upcoming title challenger Timothy
Johnson – Fortune has looked nigh-unstoppable. Although he
kneed Jack
May in the groin in September 2020 that resulted in a no
contest, a follow-up effort less than two months later against the
aforementioned Sowma went his way. In his last time out, the
Arizona Combat Sports product rematched May on short notice, and he
clubbed the rangy kickboxer to force a stoppage in just over three
minutes.
Mitrione will be 12 years his opponent’s senior, without a win on
his ledger since 2018. Following his majority verdict victory over
Roy
Nelson, Mitrione dropped a lopsided tournament bout to Ryan Bader
later that year. After landing a groin kick that halted a fight
with Sergei
Kharitonov, the two ran it back six months later and Mitrione
fell short due to strikes. A subsequent meeting with Johnson in
August 2020 did not go his way, when the mustached mauler
dispatched Mitrione in the opening frame.
In addition to Fortune vs. Mitrione, another pair of heavyweights
in Linton
Vassell (20-8, 1 NC) and Marcelo
Golm (8-3) will toe the line on the event’s main card. Even
though Vassell is ranked above both Fortune and Mitrione, his
battle with the Brazilian brawler will be held below
Fortune-Mitrione.
At featherweight on the prelims, multiple-time title challenger
Arlene
Blencowe (13-8) will square off with Dayana
Silva (9-6), with the latter taking ex-champ Julia Budd to
the distance in a close contest. Also on the early preliminary
portion is another featherweight collision, as Johnny Soto
(4-1) comes to blows with Adil
Benjilany (5-3, 1 NC).
Bellator 262 will go down at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville,
Conn., on July 16. Fans will be in attendance for the card that
will be capped off by a women’s flyweight championship tilt between
champ Juliana
Velasquez and Denise
Kielholtz.