Bellator announces two title fights: Pitbull vs. Sanchez II, Archuleta vs. Pettis
A featherweight Grand Prix semifinal and a bantamweight title defense will serve as headliners for two upcoming Bellator events.
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Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Bellator MMA spent Tuesday afternoon making some blockbuster announcements during a special press conference about what is to come for the promotion in the next couple of months. Alongside the reveal that they would now be airing exclusively on Showtime beginning in April, Bellator also set the headliners for some of its future events.
Bellator 255 is set to take place on April 2 and will be headlined by the featherweight Grand Prix semifinal between Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire and Emmanuel Sanchez. It is the first event that will air on Showtime.
Another season of
The Ultimate Fighter is in the books and another new UFC champion is set to be crowned. TUF 26 marks the second time the promotion has used its flagship reality show to award a title to a new weight class.
Much like the prior season with the same format, TUF 20, the show’s roster was comprised of women, this time in the flyweight division. And like that iteration, a large portion of the cast was pulled from all-women’s promotion Invicta Fighting Championships. Some of the choices were no-brainers: inaugural Invicta champion Barb Honchak, UFC veterans Roxanne Modafferi and Lauren Murphy, as well as former Invicta title challenger DeAnna Bennett. But there were plenty of fresh faces from the international scene as well.