The field is just about set for Bellator’s upcoming welterweight tournament.
Ten of the promotion’s best at 170 pounds will be featured in the bracket, including current champion Rory MacDonald; former champions Douglas Lima and Andrey Koreshkov; undefeated welterweights Michael Page, Neiman Gracie, Ed Ruth, and Yaroslav Amosov; and former UFC standouts Lorenz Larkin and Jon Fitch.
Bellator president Scott Coker announced the participants at a press conference for the U.S. launch of broadcasting partner DAZN.
Officials told MMA Fighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti that a 10th participant is still to be named and there will be two play-in matches to determine the final eight-man bracket.
The first scheduled pairing of the tournament will be a trilogy bout between rivals Lima and Koreshkov, which will take place at Bellator 205 on Sept. 29 at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The series is currently tied at 1-1, with Koreshkov defeating Lima by unanimous decision to win the Bellator championship in their first meeting, and Lima knocking Koreshkov out in the rematch in November 2016 to get it back.
On that same card, MacDonald challenges Gegard Mousasi for the Bellator middleweight title in the main event.
The Sept. 29 show will mark Bellator’s first show on the DAZN platform. A U.S. subscription for DAZN will cost $9.99 a month.
See the announced Bellator Welterweight World Grand Prix participants below:
- Yaroslav Amosov
- Jon Fitch
- Neiman Gracie
- Andrey Koreshkov
- Lorenz Larkin
- Douglas Lima
- Rory MacDonald
- Michael Page
- Ed Ruth
