About a month out from its 2022 return to its adopted hometown of
Uncasville, Conn., Bellator MMA has set its lineup for its first Mohegan
Sun show of the year.
The organization sent out via press release the full 14-fight
lineup of
Bellator 274, which confirmed several rumored matches, adding a
few more and changing at least one participant. This event will
take place at the famed Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on
Feb. 19, in an event that will air on the Showtime network. Of
note, this fight card will be capped off by Bellator’s first
non-title, non-tournament five-round headliner when Neiman
Gracie takes on Logan
Storley in the welterweight division.
Bellator added five new fights to the preliminary card, perhaps
most notably with the return of ex-middleweight title challenger
Brennan
Ward (14-6) after over for years away. The Connecticut local,
the subject of a
recent feature which chronicled his return from drug addiction,
will be stepping back in the Bellator cage in a 175-pound
catchweight contest against Brandon
Bell (10-10). Additionally, Aviv Gozali
(6-0) will put his unbeaten record on the line against Bobby King
(10-4), where the 21-year-old from Israel will try to become the
first man to tap out King as a pro.
The other three new pairings include a light heavyweight contest
between Christian
Edwards (5-1) and Kevin Haley
(6-6), a middleweight clash pitting Jordan
Newman (3-0) against Cody
Herbert (2-0) and a welterweight tilt between Orlando
Mendoza (0-1) and Jonathan
DiLorenzo (1-0) to open the prelims. Finally, Isaiah
Hokit (0-1) will receive a new opponent in Theodore
Macuka (1-2) as his previous foe Albert
Birckhead was forced out for undisclosed reasons.
Bellator 274 Lineup:
Neiman
Gracie vs. Logan
Storley – welterweight
Andrey
Koreshkov vs. Mukhamed
Berkhamov – welterweight
Georgi
Karakhanyan vs. Adam
Piccolotti – lightweight
Davion
Franklin vs. Said Sowma –
heavyweight
Mandel
Nallo vs. Nick Browne
– lightweight
Christian
Edwards vs. Kevin Haley
– light heavyweight
Jaylon
Bates vs. Chris
Disonell – bantamweight
Aviv
Gozali vs. Bobby King –
lightweight
DeAnna
Bennett vs. Justine
Kish – women’s flyweight
Brennan
Ward vs. Brandon
Bell – 175-pound catchweight
Jordan
Newman vs. Cody
Herbert – middleweight
Justin
Montalvo vs. Corey
Samuels – lightweight
Isaiah
Hokit vs. Theodore
Macuka – featherweight
Orlando
Mendoza vs. Jonathan
DiLorenzo – welterweight