Hopefully the Rory MacDonald vs. Jon Fitch winner enjoys a six-week turnaround, because that’s the plan for their next fight.
Bellator MMA’s return to Madison Square Garden is expected to include a welterweight title bout.
ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reported that the winner of Rory MacDonald vs. Jon Fitch, which is scheduled for April 27th at Bellator 220, will face Neiman Gracie on the June 14th event in New York. This would be the semifinals of the promotion’s welterweight grand prix.
Gracie (9-0) won his quarterfinal matchup with a fourth-round rear-naked choke of Ed Ruth in an entertaining bout. The nephew of Renzo Gracie, Neiman has won all but one of his nine professional fights by submission. Either MacDonald or Fitch would represent a major step up in competition for him, though.
MacDonald (20-5) won the Bellator belt from Douglas Lima in January 2018, then moved up to middleweight to challenge Gegard Mousasi for his title. That proved to be a bad idea, as he was dominated and stopped in two rounds back in September. This represents the first defense of his belt, and it’s against a fellow ex-UFC title challenger in Fitch (31-7-1). The 41-year-old has won five straight, most recently getting a comfortable decision over Paul Daley at Bellator 199.
Considering April 27th to June 14th is just six weeks, so that’s a pretty quick turnaround for the winner. Should neither Rory nor Jon be ready for Bellator 222, tournament alternate Lorenz Larkin could be slotted in to face Gracie, a New York native.
Bellator 222 will stream live and exclusively on DAZN. Also featured on the card is a light heavyweight bout between Lyoto Machida and Chael Sonnen.