RYAN BADER DEFENDS HEAVYWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP AGAINST NO. 2 RANKED CHEICK KONGO IN MAIN EVENT REMATCH IN PARIS.
PARIS – A massive night of championship-level MMA guaranteed to bring fireworks is set for this Friday, May 6 from the Accor Arena in Paris and airs live at a special time of 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT on SHOWTIME.
Anchoring the card will be a heated rematch between BELLATOR Heavyweight World Champion Ryan Bader (29-7, 1 NC) against French combat sports legend and No. 2-ranked heavyweight Cheick Kongo (31-11-2, 1 NC). Both Bader and Kongo will be looking for closure when they run it back inside the BELLATOR 280 cage, following a controversial no-contest stemming from a disputed eye-poke during their first meeting in 2019.
In an equally action-packed co-feature event, Yoel Romero (13-6) who was originally slated to take on Melvin Manhoef at 205-pounds, has agreed to meet No. 7 ranked-Alex Polizzi (10-1) on less than a week’s notice. Polizzi has won three consecutive contests en route to his opportunity in Paris against one of the sport’s most popular athletes.
Newly announced, No.6-ranked middleweight Lorenz Larkin (23-7, 1 NC) will now face Kyle Stewart (15-5) during the Bellator 280 main card. France’s Davy Gallon (20-7-2) will go to battle in front of his fellow countrymen and women when he faces Switzerland’s Benjamin Brander (13-8) at lightweight. Opening the Bellator 280 televised card, English middleweight Mike Shipman (14-3) will clash with proud Parisian Gregory Babene (21-11, 1 NC).
Nine titillating preliminary matchups have been announced, including a smash between former featherweight title challenger Pedro Carvalho (12-5) and newly signed Polish standout Piotr Niedzielski (16-4), plus a 160-pound contract weight clash between “The True Viking” Søren Bak (15-1) and England’s Charlie Leary (17-12-1).
The preliminary bouts will stream live three and a half hours earlier at 12:30 p.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT on the BELLATOR MMA YouTube channel, SHOWTIME Sports YouTube channel and Pluto TV.
Limited tickets for the fight remain on sale at accorarena.com and bellator.fr. Follow Bellator France on Instagram @BellatorFrance and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BellatorFrance/