Bellator 278 & 279 to be held in Hawaii, headlined by return of Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Cyborg title defense, and Bantamweight Grand Prix
Bellator is coming back to the islands. The MMA organization, which last held a card in Hawaii in December 2019, is returning to the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena.
read more…(Khon2 News, Sherdog)
Bellator Hawaii
Bellator 279 on April 23 will feature a pair of title fights, as Cristiane Justino defends her featherweight crown against Arlene Blencowe in a rematch, while reigning 135-pound king Sergio Pettis will face Raufeon Stots with a belt on line in the opening round of the promotion’s bantamweight grand prix.
Also at Bellator 279, Kyoji Horiguchi will lock horns with Patrick Mix in another first-round pairing in the bantamweight grand prix, while former flyweight queen Ilima-Lei Macfarlane will face Justin Kish. KHON2 was first to report the bouts.
Bellator 278 does not currently have any fights announced. Both events will take place at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu and mark the promotion’s first events in Hawaii since 2019. The main cards will air on Showtime.
Justino defeated Blencowe via second-round rear-naked choke in their first meeting at Bellator 249 in October 2020. Since then, “Cyborg” has authored back-to-back KO/TKO finishes of Leslie Smith and Sinead Kavanagh in her next two 145-pound title defenses.
Blencowe, meanwhile, has rebounded to post back-to-back triumphs since her loss to Justino: a third-round TKO of Dayana Silva at Bellator 262 and a unanimous decision triumph against Pam Sorenson at Bellator 271.
Pettis is in the midst of a five-fight winning streak that includes four triumphs under the Bellator banner. He claimed the vacant bantamweight strap with a five-round verdict against Juan Archuleta at Bellator 258 and then defended the crown with a spinning backfist KO of Horiguchi at Bellator 272 this past December.
Stots enters the title clash with Pettis on a nine-fight professional winning streak. He is 5-0 in the California-based promotion, including a decision win against Magomed Magomedov at Bellator 264.