In an ideal world, Bellator’s bantamweight grand prix final will go
down early next year.
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The 135-pound championship is now set, as interim king Raufeon
Stots will square off against Patrick Mix
following their victories in the semifinals at
Bellator 289this past Friday. Stots edged Danny
Sabatello via split decision in one half of the bracket, while
Mix submitted Magomed
Magomedov in the other half.
As of now, a date has not been set for Stots vs. Mix, but Bellator
president Scott Coker does have a timeline in mind.
“We’re going to have to see who’s injured, who’s not injured, and
that’s going to determine when they fight,” Coker said at the
Bellator 289 post-fight press conference. “We want them to be
healthy, fresh and ready to go and not just training through
injuries or having to cut weight too quick from this fight.
“We’re going to talk to all the managers Monday and see how
everybody’s feeling and then we’ll decide when we throw that fight.
Our goal is to get that fight done in the first quarter if we
can.”
The Stots-Mix winner will receive $1 million and will be interim
135-pound champion, setting up an eventual date with undisputed
title holder Sergio
Pettis. The Roufusport product is currently on the mend from a
knee injury and hasn’t competed since knocking out Kyoji
Horiguchi at Bellator 272 a little more than one year ago.