Bellator has signed the only man to defeat UFC bantamweight king
Petr
Yan.
In an interview with
CBS Sports, Bellator president Scott Coker revealed that the
promotion has signed former ACB (now Absolute Championship Akhmat)
bantamweight champion Magomed
Magomedov to an exclusive, multi-fight deal.
“We’re very excited for this signing of Magomed Magomedov,” Coker
said. “My team and I continue to search the planet for the top
up-and-coming-fighters and we feel that Magomedov has the potential
to be a world champion in the sport.”
A date for Magomedov’s debut is currently unknown. The 28-year-old
Moscow native owns a 16-1 professional record that includes a
five-round split verdict over Yan in March 2016. Yan later regained
the ACB 135-pound crown with a unanimous decision triumph in a
rematch approximately a year later. Magomedov hasn’t competed since
a first-round submission of Walter
Pereira Jr. at ACB 90 on Nov. 10, 2018.
“Our bantamweight division has quickly become one of our most
formidable weight classes,” Coker said. “Guys like Magomed, along
with other very recent bantamweight signings like Brett Johns,
Jared
Scoggins and Jaylon
Bates, will make for very fun fights for years to come.”