Bellator MMA will make a splash when it returns to Hawaii with a
pair of events on April 22 and 23.
Bellator 279 on April 23 will feature a pair of title fights, as
Cristiane
Justino defends her featherweight crown against Arlene
Blencowe in a rematch, while reigning 135-pound king Sergio
Pettis will face Raufeon
Stots with a belt on line in the opening round of the
promotion’s bantamweight grand prix.
Also at Bellator 279, Kyoji
Horiguchi will lock horns with Patrick Mix
in another first-round pairing in the bantamweight grand prix,
while former flyweight queen Ilima-Lei
Macfarlane will face Justin Kish.
KHON2 was first to report the bouts.
Bellator 278 does not currently have any fights announced. Both
events will take place at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu
and mark the promotion’s first events in Hawaii since 2019. The
main cards will air on Showtime.
Justino defeated Blencowe via second-round rear-naked choke in
their first meeting at Bellator 249 in October 2020. Since then,
“Cyborg” has authored back-to-back KO/TKO finishes of Leslie
Smith and Sinead
Kavanagh in her next two 145-pound title defenses.
Blencowe, meanwhile, has rebounded to post back-to-back triumphs
since her loss to Justino: a third-round TKO of Dayana
Silva at Bellator 262 and a unanimous decision triumph against
Pam
Sorenson at Bellator 271.
Pettis is in the midst of a five-fight winning streak that includes
four triumphs under the Bellator banner. He claimed the vacant
bantamweight strap with a five-round verdict against Juan
Archuleta at Bellator 258 and then defended the crown with a
spinning backfist KO of Horiguchi at Bellator 272 this past
December.
Stots enters the title clash with Pettis on a nine-fight
professional winning streak. He is 5-0 in the California-based
promotion, including a decision win against Magomed
Magomedov at Bellator 264.