LOS ANGELES – Bellator is hosting a lightweight grand prix this year, and for the first time Friday, the promotion brought all eight participants together for a news conference, followed by faceoffs.
The tournament kicks off March 10 at Bellator 292 in San Jose, Calif., where champion [autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag] (16-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) defends the title against [autotag]Benson Henderson[/autotag] (30-11MMA, 7-6 BMMA) in a quarterfinal. Also that night, [autotag]Tofiq Musayev[/autotag] (20-4 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) meets [autotag]Alexander Shabliy[/autotag] (22-3 MMA, 3-0 BMMA).
On May 12 at Bellator Paris, [autotag]Mansour Barnaoui[/autotag] (20-4 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) will take on [autotag]Sidney Outlaw[/autotag] (16-5 MMA, 4-2 BMMA) in a quarterfinal. The remaining quarterfinal between [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] (20-1MMA, 20-1 BMMA) and [autotag]Patricky Freire[/autotag] (24-11 MMA, 15-9 BMMA) has yet to be booked for an event date and location.
In the video above, you can watch all the opponents come face to face.
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