After coming up short in his bid to win the Light Heavyweight Grand Prix, Ryan Bader will return to the heavyweight division to take care of some unfinished business. Bellator MMA recently announced that “Darth” will face current interim titleholder, Valentin Moldavsky, in the main event of Bellator 273 on Jan. 29, 2022, inside Footprint Center in Phoenix, AZ.
Bader was last seen in action against Corey Anderson at Bellator 268, losing via technical knockouts (TKO) just 51 seconds into the first round of the Grand Prix semifinal bout (see it again here). The loss was “Darth’s” second in his last three outings.
As for Moldavsky, he has won six in a row and is undefeated inside the Bellator cage. He was last seen defeating Timothy Johnson at Bellator 261 to capture the interim title to set up a showdown against Bader. Moldavsky trains alongside Vadim Nemkov, who took Bader’s light heavyweight title back in Aug. 2020.
Also on the card, Darrion Caldwell will battle Enrique Barzola in bantamweight action. No other fights are confirmed at the moment, so keep it tuned to MMA Mania as more matchups are announced.
To check out the latest Bellator MMA-related news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive news archive right here.