Following knee surgery, Bellator lightweight Ben Henderson is set to make his return this September against Patricky Freire.
With his only Bellator MMA win to date coming by injury TKO against Patricio Freire, former WEC and UFC lightweight champion Ben Henderson will be taking on Patricky Freire in the main event of Bellator 183. The announcement was made during Saturday’s Bellator 180broadcast.
Henderson (24-7) has been out of action since losing a title fight to Michael Chandler back in November 2016. He later revealed that he’d spent his entire three-fight Bellator career competing with a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus. The 33-year-old underwent surgery to repair those injuries and was targeting a July-August return, but he’ll instead make his return in September. Henderson made his Bellator MMA debut in April 2016, losing a one-sided decision to then-welterweight champion Andrey Koreshkov. He dropped back to lightweight to take on current featherweight champ Patricio Pitbull, who injured his leg during round 2 of a fight in which he’d taken the first round.
Patricky Pitbull (17-8) is coming off a sensational KO victory over former Strikeforce champ Josh Thomson in the Bellator 172 main event. This was his first fight after he was knocked out by Chandler in a matchup for the lightweight title vacated by current UFC fighter Will Brooks. The elder of the “Pitbull Brothers” has won three of his last four, including a one-punch KO of Ryan Couture, and was actually due to face Derek Campos at Bellator 181 on July 14th. Campos will instead take on Brandon Girtz in that card’s main event.
Also set for Bellator 183 is the promotional debut of UFC veteran Roy “Big Country” Nelson (22-14). His UFC contract ended with a loss to Alexander Volkov in April, and he opted to sign with Bellator in free agency. Nelson’s first opponent in his new home will be Javy Ayala (10-5), whose most recent outing saw him score a shocking 16-second KO of Sergei Kharitonov at Bellator 163.
Bellator 183 takes place at the SAP Center in San Jose, California on Saturday, September 23rd. The main card will air live on Spike.
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