BREAKING
@BellatorMMA
returns to @3ArenaDublin
on Friday, Feb. 25th!Middleweight World Champion @mousasi_mma
defends against No.1 contender @austinv170mma
& Ireland’s @peterqueally
faces @Kane86mousah.#BellatorDublin
go on sale, Sat., Dec. 18 at @TicketmasterIre
pic.twitter.com/hTCL55Fh6Q
— Bellator Europe (@Bellator_Europe)
December 16, 2021
Ireland will officially not need to wait very long between Bellator MMA shows.
On Tuesday,
news broke that Bellator was planning on heading back to Dublin
on Feb. 25, with a headliner between Gegard
Mousasi and Austin
Vanderford for the middleweight strap. The organization has
confirmed this via press release on Thursday, while announcing
three additional matchups including its co-headliner. The fight
card will be held in the 3Arena in Dublin, just like its Nov. 5
event of Bellator 270.
As Mousasi-Vanderford will take top billing, the second marquee
matchup will be filled by a lightweight battle between former title
challenger Peter
Queally (13-6, 1 NC) and Kane Mousah
(13-4). Queally fell short for the vacant belt in a rematch with
Patricky
Freire at the aforementioned Bellator 270 card in November. The
loss snapped a two-fight knockout streak where he dispatched
Ryan
Scope and forced doctors to intervene due to a cut suffered by
Freire.
His opponent Mousah likewise is coming off of a loss, as Davy Gallon
defeated him in October via unanimous verdict. Since joining the
roster in 2019, “The Danger” has alternated wins and losses,
beating Mateusz
Piskorz and Alessandro
Botti but suffering defeats to Rafael
Macedo and Gallon.
Two other lightweight affairs have been included on the promotion’s
return to the Emerald Isle. Both on the undercard, Charlie
Leary (17-11-1) will take on France’s Gallon (19-7-2), while
Junior
Morgan (3-0) has been rebooked against MMA newcomer Darragh
Kelly (0-0) – the latter was initially scheduled for Bellator
270 until Morgan withdrew after sustaining a concussion.
Leary, who has not won or lost consecutive fights since 2016, has
alternated victories and setbacks in his last nine outings. Most
recently, “917” forced a doctor stoppage of Kiefer
Crosbie in Milan, Italy, in October to earn one of the biggest
wins of his career. Facing him will be Gallon, who comes into the
pairing on a three-fight win streak that includes a successful
debut with the league over Mousah. Of note, the Frenchman made
headlines in 2019 for knocking Ross
Pearson out with a rolling thunder kick.