Unbeaten prospects Christian
Edwards and Kyle
Crutchmer are among the notable additions to the Bellator 249
preliminary lineup.
A promotion official confirmed the following four contests to
Sherdog.com on Wednesday: Edwards vs. Hamza Salim
at light heavyweight; Crutchmer vs. Kemran
Lachinov at welterweight; Tony
Johnson vs. Joseph
Creer at middleweight and Mike Kimbel
vs. Da’mon Blackshear at 140 pounds.
Bellator 249 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville,
Connecticut on Oct. 15 and is headlined by a women’s featherweight
title clash between Cristiane
Justino and Arlene
Blencowe. The main card airs on CBS Sports Network at 9 p.m.
ET/6 p.m. PT, while the prelims stream immediately prior on
Bellator’s YouTube channel.
Edwards, who trains at Jackson-Wink MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
is unbeaten in three Bellator appearances – including a pair of
KO/TKO finishes in less than a minute. He last fought at Bellator
239, where he took a unanimous decision over DiMarcco
Hutchison. Edwards was supposed to compete at Bellator 243
before his opponent withdraw a couple days before the event.
A two-time NCAA All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State University,
Crutchmer is 6-0 thus far in his MMA career – including a pair of
triumphs under the Bellator banner. The American Kickboxing Academy
product is coming off a first-round submission win over Scott
Futrell at Bellator 239.