#Bellator300 takes place on Oct. 7 at @PechangaArenaSD
with FOUR world title fights!! pic.twitter.com/yWzYfj0pog— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker)
August 9, 2023
Bellator MMA is planning an extravaganza for its 300th event.
The California-based promotion announced on Wednesday that Bellator
300 will feature four championship bouts at the top of the bill:
Ryan
Bader vs. Linton
Vassell at heavyweight; Cristiane
Justino vs. Cat Zingano
at featherweight; Usman
Nurmagomedov vs. Brent
Primus at lightweight and Liz
Carmouche vs. Ilima-Lei
Macfarlane at flyweight. Nurmagomedov vs. Primus is part of the
Bellator lightweight grand prix.
Bellator 300 takes place at Pechanga Arena in San Diego on Oct. 7.
The main card airs on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. The
undercard, which will be announced soon, streams on the Bellator
MMA YouTube channel and Pluto TV. Bader vs. Vassell is slated to be
the evening’s headliner.
“When I first joined Bellator, we set out to sign and develop the
best available talent in the world and produce events for massive
audiences. Our first tentpole event was Bellator 131 in San Diego,
and we couldn’t be more excited to return to that very same arena
for this monumental Bellator 300 event,” Bellator president Scott
Coker said in a release. “We wanted to give the fans and supporters
an epic night of fights and there is no better way to do that than
showcasing these four incredible champions all putting their belts
on the line. I’m proud of the all the work we have done to grow
this brand and its athletes since I came on board. I can’t wait for
Bellator 300, which is going to be the biggest event in the history
of Bellator MMA.”
Bader initially defeated Vassell via second-round TKO in a
205-pound title bout at Bellator 186 in November 2017. The UFC
veteran is coming off a trio of successful heavyweight title
defenses over Valentin
Moldavsky, Cheick Kongo
and Fedor
Emelianenko.
Vassell has won five consecutive outings since moving to
heavyweight. Most recently, “Big Swarm” avenged a previous loss to
Valentin
Moldavsky via first-round KO at Bellator 292.
Justino hasn’t competed under the Bellator banner since April 2022,
when she defended the featherweight crown with a five-round verdict
over Arlene
Blencowe at Bellator 279. After competing in a couple of boxing
matches, “Cyborg” re-signed with the promotion earlier this
year.
A former UFC bantamweight title challenger, Zingano has won four
straight contests since signing with Bellator. The 41-year-old
Colorado native is coming off a decision win over Leah
McCourt at Bellator 293 this past March.
The 25-year-old Usman is undefeated in 17 professional appearances.
He claimed lightweight gold with a five-round verdict against
Patricky
Freire at Bellator 288 and then kicked off his run in the grand
prix with a first-round submission of Benson
Henderson at Bellator 292.
Primus, a former lightweight champ, advanced in the bracket with a
unanimous decision against Mansour
Barnaoui at Bellator 296 on May 12. The American Top Team
Portland product has won four of his last six bouts dating back to
2019.
Carmouche, who was a No. 1 contender at both bantamweight and
flyweight in the UFC, has won six straight in Bellator MMA. She
made her second successful 125-pound title defense at Bellator 294,
where she submitted DeAnna
Bennett in the fourth round on April 21.
Macfarlane, meanwhile, was Bellator’s inaugural flyweight queen.
The 33-year-old Hawaiian is coming off back-to-back wins over
Bruna
Ellen and Kana
Watanabe.