LOS ANGELES – Last Friday, Johnny Eblen (12-0) stunned the MMA world with a masterclass performance against the legendary Gegard Mousasi (49-8-2), dropping and outclassing the former champion en route to a unanimous decision shutout (50-45, 50-45, 50-45). Eblen vaulted to seventh in the BELLATOR men’s pound-for-pound rankings as a result of the title-clinching victory, while Mousasi fell to the #1-ranked middleweight contender.
Elsewhere on the card, #3-ranked Magomed Magomedov (19-2) and #6-ranked Danny Sabatello (13-1) improved their rankings and advanced to the Bantamweight World Grand Prix semifinals by defeating Enrique Barzola and Leandro Higo, respectively. Alexander Shabliy (22-3) rose to fifth in the lightweight rankings with his second-round TKO of former champion Brent Primus (11-3), who fell to fourth.
BELLATOR MMA returns to action on Friday, July 22 with a talent-stacked event headlined by a lightweight championship bout between reigning titleholder Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire (24-10) and #1-ranked contender Sidney Outlaw (16-4).BELLATOR 283: Pitbull vs. Outlaw will air on SHOWTIME beginning at 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT from the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington.
The co-main event of BELLATOR 283 will pit top-five welterweight contenders against one another in a clash with title shot implications, as former champion and #3-ranked Douglas Lima (32-10) and Jason Jackson (15-4) meet on the SHOWTIME-aired main card. Also competing on the card is undefeated #3-ranked lightweight Usman Nurmagomedov (14-0), who faces former wrestling standout Chris Gonzalez (7-1), and former RIZIN Lightweight Grand Prix tournament winner Tofiq Musayev (18-4) makes his BELLATOR debut opposite Adam Piccolotti (13-4).
The preliminary fight card will begin at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT, and will be distributed on the BELLATOR MMA YouTube channel, the SHOWTIME Sports YouTube channel, and Pluto TV.
Tickets for BELLATOR MMA 283: Pitbull vs. Outlaw are on sale at both Ticketmaster.com and Bellator.com.
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