Two battle-tested Bellator MMA bantamweights will look to brawl in
October.
The news first came from
MMA Junkie, who reported earlier this month that Brett Johns
(17-3) would be squaring off against Erik Perez
(20-8) at
Bellator 268. The two bantamweights will come to blows inside
the Footprint Center – formerly known as the Talking Stick Resort
Arena – in Phoenix on Oct. 16. The booking was subsequently
confirmed by the promotion on Friday.
Johns, a Ultimate Fighting Championship standout that
left the organization on a two-fight win streak, joined the
Bellator ranks and subsequently dropped a decision to Danny
Sabatello in May. Before facing Sabatello, the only two men to
defeat Johns were current UFC champ Aljamain
Sterling and top-10 contender Pedro
Munhoz, while he racked up five victories inside the Octagon.
Most notably, he hit a calf slicer on Joe Soto at the
“TUF 26” Finale in 2017, thereby becoming the second fighter in UFC
history to land such a submission.
Unlike his opponent, Perez won his last fight, when he captured a
unanimous verdict over Blaine
Shutt also in May. The victory brought an end to a two-fight
skid inside the Bellator cage, where he suffered a knockout at the
hands of Toby Misech
in 2019 and then came up short by decision to Josh Hill in
2020. Like Johns, “Goyito” competed for several years under the UFC
banner, and he too left the league on a win streak. As a UFC
fighter, the Mexican-born Perez defeated the likes of Francisco
Rivera, Felipe
Arantes and Taylor
Lapilus.
Bellator 268 will take place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix on
Oct. 16, with a pair of light heavyweight tournament semifinals on
tap to cap off the card. In the main event, Vadim
Nemkov will defend his 205-pound throne against Anthony
Johnson, while ex-champ Ryan Bader
contends with Corey
Anderson to round out the finals. Additionally, Bellator
confirmed
a preliminary light heavyweight contest first announced by
The Record-Courier between 1-0 upstarts Sullivan
Cauley and Deon
Clash.