UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Two fights have been canceled from Friday’s Bellator 243 card at Mohegan Sun.
Middleweight [autotag]Joel Bauman[/autotag] is out of his preliminary card bout against [autotag]Taylor Johnson[/autotag]. Additionally, [autotag]Ahmed Samir Hefny[/autotag], who was expected to fight [autotag]Christian Edwards[/autotag] at a 210-pound catchweight, is off the card. Neither Johnson nor Edwards will receive a replacement opponent.
A Bellator official informed MMA Junkie of the cancelations Tuesday, citing “undisclosed reasons” as the cause. The official noted Johnson and Edwards will be compensated, despite not fighting.
Edwards (3-0 MMA, 3-0 BMMA), a recipient of the Jackson Wink-Mata Leon scholarship, is a training partner of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. In November, Edwards, 21, went viral with a vicious 16-second head kick knockout over Cesar Bennett.
Johnson (5-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) recently signed with Bellator and was expected to make his promotional debut Friday. “Tombstone” dominated his competition in LFA prior to a Dana White’s Contender Series loss in August 2019.
With the changes, the Bellator 243 lineup includes:
- Michael Chandler vs. Benson Henderson
- Timothy Johnson vs. Matt Mitrione
- Georgi Karakhanyan vs. Myles Jury
- Sabah Homasi vs. Curtis Millender
- Adam Borics vs. Mike Hamel
- AJ Agazarm vs. Cris Lencioni
- Dalton Rosta vs. Mark Gardner
- Nainoa Dung vs. Charlie Campbell
- Grant Neal vs. Hamza Salim
- Valerie Loureda vs. Tara Graff
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