With Yaroslav
Amosov currently occupied
defending his native Ukraine from Russian invasion, Bellator
has called an audible for the main event of its May 13 card in
London.
The promotion announced on Wednesday that Logan
Storley will replace the reigning welterweight champion and
square off against Michael
Page in an interim 170-pound title clash in the
Bellator 281 main event.
“Like the rest of the world, we’ve been shocked by the tragic
events in Ukraine and the thoughts of everyone at Bellator MMA are
with Yaroslav and all the Ukrainian people during this time,”
Bellator president Scott Coker said in a statement. “We wish he and
his family the best and look forward to seeing him return safely to
happier times, both inside and out of the Bellator cage.”
Bellator 281 takes place at the OVO Arena Wembley in London and
will also see Douglas
Lima square off against Jason
Jackson at welterweight in the co-headliner. The main card airs
on Showtime in the United States at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT, while
prelims stream on the Bellator YouTube channel, the Showtime Sports
YouTube channel and Pluto TV at 12:30 a.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT.
Storley is coming off the first five-round victory of his MMA
career, when he took a unanimous decision against former title
challenger Neiman
Gracie in the Bellator 274 headliner on Feb. 19. The
29-year-old Sanford MMA product was a four-time NCAA All-American
wrestler at the University of Minnesota and owns a 13-1 record as a
pro — including an 8-1 mark in Bellator. His lone defeat came via
split decision against Amosov at Bellator 252.
Page has won 20 of his 21 professional outings, with his only
setback coming against Lima in May 2019. “Venom” avenged that loss
in his last outing, taking a split verdict against the ex-champ at
Bellator 267 this past October. The flamboyant British striker owns
other notable wins against the likes of Derek
Anderson, Paul Daley,
David
Rickels and Evangelista
Santos.