Image credit: Bellator MMA
Bellator has officially announced that Gegard Mousasi vs. Johnny Eblen will happen for the middleweight title in June.
The fight is scheduled for Bellator 282 on June 24 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT, which will also feature a pair of Bantamweight Grand Prix quarterfinals matchups.
Magomed Magomedov will square off against the winner of Enrique Barzola and Josh Hill, who are scheduled to fight in Honolulu in April. Leandro Higo will take on the winner of Jornel Lugo vs. Danny Sabatello, and the women’s flyweight bout between Alejandra Lara and IIara Joanne was added to the prelims.
Gegard Mousasi vs. Johnny Eblen
Mousasi is a long-time veteran with fights in Strikeforce, Dream, and UFC under his belt. “The Dream Catcher” made the jump to Bellator riding a five-fight winning streak. He made his promotional debut at Bellator 185, where he defeated Alexander Shlemenko. In his next fight, he grabbed the Bellator middleweight title by defeating Rafael Carvahlo. He lost the championship belt to Rafael Lovato Jr. He regained the then-vacant championship by beating Douglas Lima and went on to defend it twice against John Salter and most recently, Austin Vanderford at Bellator 275.
Eblen sports an impressive 11-0 professional MMA record with seven of those wins taking place in the Bellator. Being third in Bellator’s middleweight rankings, he secured his contender status by defeating the aforementioned Salter at Bellator 276 in St. Charles, MO, about two weeks ago. Now he will look to avenge the loss of fellow American Top Team member, Vanderford.
