The Resorts World Arena in the United Kingdom will house the action for this weekend’s Bellator Birmingham event. Let’s take a look at some more reasons to watch.
A former lightweight champion will headline the festivities and a kickboxing legend will look to earn his first win as a mixed martial artist.
With a total of 19 bouts on the night, the event, which will air on the Paramount Network via tape-delay, will be the second event in the Bellator European series.
Credit: Fabian Edwards Instagram
Fabian Edwards
Fabian Edwards’ name might sound familiar to us combat sports fans. That’s because he is the brother of UFC welterweight Leon Edwards. The same Leon Edwards that Jorge Masvidal gave a three-piece and a coke too.
Fabian, 26, is both a BAMMA & Bellator MMA veteran. He is 6-0 professionally and has an overall winning streak of 16 straight dating back to his amateur days in 2015.
Credit: Bellator MMA Instagram
Raymond “The Real Deal” Daniels
He may not have the name recognition in MMA yet but kickboxing legend, Raymond Daniels really needs no introduction.
To say that Daniels would like to keep his fight with Wilker Barros standing is an understatement. Daniels posses a Sixth-degree black belt in American Kempo, a sixth-degree black belt in Shotokan, and a fifth-degree Kukkiwon black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
If you are a fan of high level striking this is the fight for you.
Credit: Saul Rogers Instagram
Saul “The Hangman” Rogers
Another familiar name. This time its The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 22 vet Saul “The Hangman” Rogers’ whose name rings a bell.
England’s Rogers is an exciting fighter that still has a ton of untapped potential. Before his most recent loss, Rogers rolled off a cool 10 straight with wins varying from his time with Cage Warriors, the UFC, and Absolute Championship Berkut.
Rogers will have his hands full as he is fighting a young, hungry finisher in the 24-year-old Aiden Lee.
Brent Primus
Brent Primus, 34, will make his first walk to the Bellator cage since losing his lightweight title to Michael Chandler at Bellator 212 last December.
It will be interesting to see how Primus responds after suffering the first setback of his professional career. He will have his work cut out for him as Tim Wilde is not an easy out by any means.
Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Pitbull is ready to head to the UFC.
The Brazilian hasn’t been seen in the cage since a clash with Jeremy Kennedy in March at Bellator Champions Series 1. The bout was the first title defense, of his third stint with featherweight gold and he made it look easy. In round three, Patricio Pitbull put ‘The Bandit’ away with a devastating combination to earn a knockout win.
Bellator light-heavyweight champion Corey Anderson will face Vadim Nemkov again in January.
Next month, the promotion is set to hold its biggest event since being bought by the PFL in late 2023. In the main event of Bellator Champions Series: Dubai, Usman Nurmagomedov will defend his gold against Paul Hughes. The 18-0 lightweight champion will look to halt the Irishman’s progress, who is fresh off a win over A.J. McKee in October.
Bellator champions Patricio Pitbull and Patchy Mix have become the latest to request a release.
It’s been just over a year since Donn Davis and the PFL bought Bellator. When the deal was first announced, there was a lot of excitement among fighters, because of what they were told. PFL executives including Davis promised fighters the opportunity to compete in either the tournament format, or hop over to Bellator and fight in one-off events.
Michael Chandler doesn’t have a fan in one former Bellator champion.
Chandler was in action earlier this month on the main card of UFC 309. He shared the Octagon with Charles Oliveira in a rematch. Despite a late effort to get a finish, Chandler ultimately dropped a unanimous decision and he is now 0-2 against “do Bronx.”
Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov will meet Paul Hughes in Dubai.
‘Big News’ is fresh off his return to the PFL cage last month in Saudi Arabia. There, Paul Hughes met former Bellator featherweight champion A.J. McKee in a lightweight title eliminator. ‘Mercenary’ was considered the Irishman’s biggest test of his career, and he passed the test with flying colors.
Bellator star Paul Hughes wants Conor McGregor in his corner for a possible title shot against Usman Nurmagomedov.
Last weekend, Paul Hughes made an emphatic statement. In his battle with AJ McKee at PFL: Battle of the Giants, he was able to put in the performance of a lifetime. He dropped the favorite and hurt him on multiple occasions, eventually riding his way to a split decision win. Now, many believe the natural next step is for him to challenge Bellator champion Usman Nurmagomedov for the belt.
It appears that Bellator veteran Dillon Danis wants to return to the cage.
The controversial ‘El Jefe’ hasn’t been seen in action since his boxing match with Logan Paul a year ago. In the co-main event of Misfits 10, Dillon Danis was badly outboxed by ‘The Maverick’. Despite a lot of pre-fight trash talk, the MMA fighter was very little more than a heavy bag last October.
UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier feels the UFC is the only MMA promotion in which athletes truly have an opportunity to achieve a superstar fame level.
Cormier sat cage-side as UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira defeated Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307. Pereira defended the belt for the third time in just seven months and rallied from early adversity to finish Rountree.
