Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.
MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.
But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.
Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from July 19-25:
Three fights have been added to the undercard of the Patricio Freire vs. A.J. McKee event July 31 in Los Angeles.
With less than two weeks before what some are calling the biggest fight in Bellator history, the promotion continues to add the finishing touches to its next event.
Bellator 263 takes place July 31 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The main card airs on Showtime after prelims on MMA Junkie.
On Monday, promotion officials announced the addition of a main card fight between former Bellator lightweight champion [autotag]Brent Primus[/autotag] (10-1 MMA, 8-1 BMMA) and Russian standout [autotag]Islam Mamedov[/autotag] (19-1-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA). The fight was first reported by TASS.
Additionally, a women’s flyweight bout between [autotag]Ilara Joanne[/autotag] (9-5 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) and Vanessa Porto (22-9 MMA, 0-1 BMMA), as well as a 150-pound contract-weight fight between [autotag]Daniel Carey[/autotag] (7-4 MMA, 3-3 BMMA) and [autotag]Gadzhi Rabadanov[/autotag] (15-4-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) has been added to the prelims.
A bantamweight bout between contenders [autotag]Magomed Magmedov[/autotag] (18-1 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) and [autotag]Raufeon Stots[/autotag] (16-1 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) has been removed from the card, MMA Junkie confirmed with a Bellator official. No reason for the cancellation was given.
Primus, 36, has not competed since February 2020. He rides a two-fight winning streak into the bout with back-to-back first-round submissions over Tim Wilde and Chris Bungard. In 11 pro fights, Primus’ lone loss came via unanimous decision when he lost the title to Michael Chandler in December 2018.
Mamedov, 31, makes his promotional debut riding a 19-fight unbeaten streak. Regarded by some as one of the best lightweights in the world, Mamedov nine times for WSOF/PFL where he compiled an 8-0-1 record including wins over Natan Schulte and Thiago Tavares among others.
With the additions, the Bellator 263 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET)
PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie, 7 p.m. ET)
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