It’ll be hard for Johnny Eblen to top the fight that earned him the Bellator MMA middleweight championship.
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The American Top Team product claimed 185-pound gold with a five-round verdict over Gegard Mousasi in the Bellator 282 main event last June. After vanquishing one of the sport’s all-time great middleweights, Eblen will face a lesser known commodity in his first title defense when he locks horns with Anatoly Tokov in the Bellator 290 co-main event. While Tokov isn’t a household name, his seven-fight winning streak in Bellator and gaudy 31-2 overall mark made him an attractive opponent to Eblen.“It’s just another challenge, another step in the right direction,” Eblen said at a press conference on Wednesday. “It’s the reason I called him out in the first place. I knew about his record. I knew he was 7-0 in Bellator. And I know he’s really good. So I want to take him out and put on a show in front of all these fans and on CBS.”
While the …