Updated fight card for Bellator 266: Davis
vs. Romero – Saturday, Sept. 18 – @SAPCenter
in San Jose. pic.twitter.com/uFXOfVc1H5— Bellator Public Relations (@BellatorPR)
August 26, 2021
The next Bellator MMA event in September is beginning to shape
up nicely.
Per
MMA Fighting on Thursday, the promotion has added several
matches to its upcoming
Bellator 266 show. The event, which will take place inside the
SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., has gained Neiman
Gracie (10-2) vs. Mark
Lemminger (12-3) at welterweight as its co-headliner. A
Bellator official has since confirmed this booking and a few others
to Sherdog.
Gracie will be looking to rebound from a contentious decision loss
to Jason
Jackson in April, which marked the first non-title tilt he had
ever lost. The Renzo Gracie
Jiu-Jitsu prodigy has largely excelled in the Bellator cage,
racking up seven submissions in eight victories, including tapouts
of Ed
Ruth and Jon Fitch over
the years. Gracie celebrates the
second-most submission wins in company history along with
A.J.
McKee, while Goiti
Yamauchi sits above them both with eight.
Lemminger, who has never been submitted, snapped the first losing
streak of his career by pounding out Demarques
Jackson in June. That skid that took place exclusively in 2020
came in the form of a doctor stoppage loss to eventual champ
Yaroslav
Amosov, and the first decision defeat of his career at the
hands of Jaleel
Willis three months later. Lemminger came into the promotion on
a three-fight win streak, and he made his successful Bellator debut
by dispatching Jake Smith at
Bellator 242.
Beyond Gracie-Lemminger, Bellator has added a trio of preliminary
bouts that include a light heavyweight contest between the unbeaten
Christian
Edwards (5-0) and “Big Tuna” Ben Parrish
(4-1) that was scheduled on multiple previous occasions. Khalid
Murtazaliev (15-2) will make his Bellator return against
Travis
Davis (10-5) at middleweight, while Abraham
Vaesau (5-3, 1 NC) comes to blows with Albert
Gonzales (2-2) in a 175-pound catchweight affair.
Bellator 266 goes down in San Jose, Calif., at the SAP Center on
Sept. 18. The fight card will be capped off by a light heavyweight
matchup pitting Yoel Romero
against Phil Davis in
a non-tournament, three-round bout. In addition to the new co-main
event of Gracie vs. Lemminger, Alejandra
Lara will take on DeAnna
Bennett at flyweight on the main card.