Season eight “The Ultimate Fighter” lightweight finalist Phillipe ‘The Filipino Assassin’ Nover (6-3-1) has signed with the Bellator Fighting Championships promotion and looks set to debut with in November against Polish fighter Marcin Held (11-2).
Nover posted the news on Twitter Sunday evening (@PhillipeNover), noting that he’d debut on MTV2 on November 26th at Caesars Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The same venue held this past weekends Bellator 49 event which saw the opening round of the Season Five welterweight tournament.
Nover was released from the UFC following his third straight Octagon loss in February of 2010. ‘The Filipino Assasin’ suffered defeats at the hands of Rob Emerson by decision at UFC 109, Kyle Bradley via TKO at UFC 98, and to Efrain Escudero by decision in the TUF 8 lightweight final. Nover had an eighteen-month layoff from his last Octagon appearance and his next fight, a unanimous decision win at a Hoosier Fight Club event in Indiana.
Held is 1-1 in his last two bouts, which includes one appearance with Bellator as part of the Season Four lightweight tournament. The Polish fighter earned a win earlier this month at the AFC 2 event in Australia with a quick first round submission. The bout before saw him lose to Bellator season four tournament winner Michael Chandler by technical submission in the first after getting caught with an arm triangle choke.