Juan Archuleta | Esther Lin for MMA Fighting
Bellator 244: “Bader vs. Nemkov” takes place tomorrow night (Fri., Aug. 21, 2020) at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. “Champ-champ” Ryan Bader (27-5, 1 NC) defends his Light Heavyweight belt against rising MMA star Vadim Nemkov (11-2) in the main event. Even before that show can take place, though, some breaking news about the 135-pound division recently rolled in that will likely be addressed during the live broadcast on Paramount Network at 10 p.m. ET.
For more on that we turn to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto:
Breaking: Bellator MMA’s vacant bantamweight title will be up for grabs in September. Juan Archuleta (@jarchmma) vs. Patrick Mix (@TeamMixMMA) agreed to for a Sept. 12 event. Interesting matchup at 135, with Sergio Pettis perhaps on deck for the winner.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) August 19, 2020
The Bantamweight title has been vacant since Kyoji Horiguchi relinquished it in Nov. 2019 because of a knee injury. With a 6-1 record in seven Bellator MMA fights and his only loss coming in a Featherweight title bout against Patricio Freire at Bellator 228, the shot for Archuleta is an intriguing one. There’s a lot of hype on the undefeated Patrick Mix, though, who has finished 77 percent (one knockout, nine submissions) of his opponents to date.
With a big win over Ricky Bandejas at Bellator 242, it’s likely that whoever wins the vacant Bantamweight title, Sergio Pettis has “got next.”
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