Bellator 273 will be headlined by a heavyweight title unification fight between heavyweight champion, Ryan Bader, and interim heavyweight champion, Valentin Moldavsky. The co-main event is set to be a lightweight bout between Benson Henderson and Islam Mamedov. Bellator 273 is set to take place in the Footprint Center in Pheonix, Arizona.
Main Event
Ryan Bader won the Bellator heavyweight title at Bellator 214 in 2019 with a knockout win over Fedor Emelianenko. He then defended his heavyweight title once with a fight that ended in a no-contest due to an accidental eye poke against Cheick Kongo. Since then, Bader lost his light heavyweight title to Vadim Nemkov in August of 2020. Since that fight, Bader is 1-1 with a decision win to Lyoto Machida and a knockout loss to Corey Anderson in October of last year. Bader is a dominant grappler with 14 of his 28 wins being decisions.
His opponent, Valentin Moldavsky comes into this fight with an 11-1 record. He is currently on a six-fight win streak and is 6-0 in the Bellator cage. Five of those six wins in Bellator are by decision. He has wins over guys like Linton Vassell, Javy Ayala, Roy Nelson, and Tim Johnson. Moldavsky is a very well-rounded mixed martial artist. He has won seven of his 11 wins by decision and his only loss as a professional was a split decision loss to Amir Aliakbari at the RIZIN Grand Prix of 2016.
Co-Main Event
Benson Henderson is currently on a three-fight losing streak and hasn’t won a fight since his decision victory over Myles Jury at Bellator 227 in 2019. Losing to Michael Chandler, Jason Jackson, and Brent Primus in his three most recent fights. Henderson is very tough and has a great jiujitsu game. He has 14 wins by decision and 11 by submission. Although, seven of his 11 losses also come by decision. Henderson will be coming into this fight with a three-inch height, and three-inch reach disadvantage against Mamedov.
Islam Mamedov is 1-0 in Bellator winning his Bellator debut by split decision over Brent Primus. He has a professional record of 20-1-1 with his only loss being his second professional fight against Alexader Sarnavskiy in 2009. Mamedov has previously fought for the World Series of Fighting and the PFL. Racking up big wins over guys like Natan Schulte, Thiago Tavares, and Yincang Bao. His one draw came against Loik Radzhabov in the PFL in October of 2019. Mamedov has finished 13 of his 20 victories with nine of them being by submission.
Other Intriguing Fights
Bellator 273 is shaking out to be an extremely exciting card. Henry Corrales will be fighting Aiden Lee and Sabah Homasi will be fighting Jaleel Willis on the main card. While big names like Darrion Caldwell, Saad Awad, Dalton Rosta, and Ben Parrish are featured all throughout the preliminary card. Big Tuna, Ben Parrish will be taking on undefeated, Sullivan Cauley. Dalton Rosta will be squaring off with Duane Johnson, Saad Awad is set to take on Chris Gonzalez and Darrion Caldwell will be taking on fellow bantamweight, Enrique Barzola.
Bellator 273 Fight Card
Main Card
- Ryan Bader (C) vs. Valentin Moldavsky (IC)
- Benson Henderson vs. Islam Mamedov
- Henry Corralesvs. Aiden Lee
- Sabah Homasi vs. Jaleel Willis
Preliminary Card
- Darrion Caldwell vs. Enrique Barzola
- Saad Awad vs. Chris Gonzalez
- Dalton Rosta vs. Duane Johnson
- Nikita Mikhailov vs. Blaine Shutt
- Lucas Brennan vs. Ben Lugo
- Weber Almeida vs. Frabricio Franco
- Ben Parrish vs. Sullivan Cauley
