Bellator Stacks Upcoming PPV With Two Title Fights
It’s clear now that Bellator MMA is loading up the card for their next pay-per-view event, which would be the second PPV event in the promotion’s history as two more bouts have been announced for the PPV and it will be for a title. Michael Chandler will defend his lightweight title against Brent Primus at the event. MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani was the first to report the news.
Originally, the event was titled “Bellator 180, has” but the promotion has decided to call the PPV portion of the event “Bellator NYC” while the preliminary portion of the event will be titled Bellator 180.
Shortly after it was announced that Chandler would defend his title against Primus at the event, it was reported by the Los Angeles Times that a welterweight title fight between champion Douglas Lima and Lorenz Larkin had been added to the event.
Larkin (18-5, 1 NC) signed with Bellator last week and has won four of his past five bouts heading into his free agency period
Chandler (16-3) has been on fire as of late as he has won four straight bouts and is coming off a successful title defense against former UFC champion Benson Henderson in November. This is going to be a tough task for Chandler as Primus (7-0) started as a prospect and has turned into a title challenger after picking up five wins in a row under the Bellator MMA banner. He is is coming off a split decision win over Gleristone Santos last April and will be coming into this bout following a 14-month layoff.
It has already been announced that a grudge match between Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva will headline this event. Also, Fedor Emelianenko will make his Bellator debut against Matt Mitrione in the co-main event.
The event takes place on June 24 at Madison Square Garden in New York, and the main card airs on pay-per-view. It’s likely that part of the prelims will air on Spike with the rest of the prelims airing online just like they did at Bellator 120, which was the first PPV event in the promotion’s history.
