Bellator 300 finally has a date and location, as well as a historic main card.
The event is set for Oct. 7 at Pechanga Arena in San Diego and will feature four title fights. The promotion is saying Bellator 300 will have four main events, but atop the card will be heavyweight champion Ryan Bader against challenger Linton Vassell.
In addition, women’s featherweight champ Cris Cyborg takes on challenger Cat Zingano, lightweight titleholder Usman Nurmagomedov meets former champ Brent Primus, and in a long-discussed matchup, women’s flyweight champ Liz Carmouche will put her title on the line against her good friend, training partner and former champ, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane.
Bellator officials announced the card Wednesday. The event date, location and lightweight title fight first were reported by BJPenn.com. The additional three title fights were announced on “The MMA Hour” ahead of a Bellator news release. The main card will air on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.
“When I first joined Bellator, we set out to sign and develop the best available talent in the world and produce events for massive audiences,” Bellator president Scott Coker said in a press release. “Our first tentpole event was Bellator 131 in San Diego, and we couldn’t be more excited to return to that very same arena for this monumental Bellator 300 event.
“We wanted to give the fans and supporters an epic night of fights and there is no better way to do that than showcasing these four incredible champions all putting their belts on the line. I’m proud of the all the work we have done to grow this brand and its athletes since I came on board. I can’t wait for Bellator 300, which is going to be the biggest event in the history of Bellator MMA.”
Former two-division champ Bader (31-7 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) lost the light heavyweight title in 2020, but has held onto the heavyweight belt. After he was knocked out by Corey Anderson in the 205-pound tournament in 2021, he has three straight heavyweight title wins over Valentin Moldavsky, Cheick Kongo and Fedor Emelianenko.
The fight against Vassell will be a rematch of a Bader win at Bellator 186 in November 2017, which Bader won with a second-round TKO to defend his light heavyweight title. Now Vassell will try again, but a weight class up.
Vassell, who is all of four days older than Bader, lost his first fight at heavyweight in 2019, but has been on a tear since then with five straight wins and four stoppages in the division. In March, he knocked out Moldavsky in the first round.
Cyborg (26-2 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) re-signed with Bellator earlier this year after she tested the free agency market. Ultimately, she decided to stay put, but stayed at least a busy boxing. But now she’ll have a grudge match with Zingano. Cyborg is considered one of the best women’s fighters in history and has held titles for Bellator, the UFC, Strikeforce and Invicta.
Zingano (14-4 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) has been waiting for a shot at Cyborg since she signed with Bellator after a lengthy run in the UFC. She’s been perfect out of the gate and now will get her first shot at a title since she challenged Ronda Rousey at UFC 184 in 2015. Her resume already includes wins over Amanda Nunes and Miesha Tate, and a win over Cyborg would be a legacy-defining moment.
Nurmagomedov, a cousin over former UFC lightweight champion Khabib, won the title in November 2022 against then-champ Patricky Freire. In March, he submitted former UFC and WEC champ Benson Henderson for his first successful title defense in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Primus (12-3 MMA, 10-3 BMMA) was on the outside looking in when the tournament started, but stepped in as a late replacement alternate. Then he silenced the crowd in Paris with a unanimous decision over local French fan favorite Mansour Barnaoui at Bellator 296. He beat Michael Chandler for the title in 2017, and an upset of Nurmagomedov would give him the belt back and put him in a $1 million title defense in the final.
And finally, Carmouche (19-7 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) and Macfarlane (13-2 MMA, 12-2 BMMA) get their dream matchup. Macfarlane has said she wants to win back the flyweight belt she used to hold, then retire. To do it, it’ll have to come against her good friend and longtime training partner.
Carmouche defended the title against DeAnna Bennett in the Bellator 294 main event in April in Honolulu. The next night, Macfarlane took a split decision from Kana Watanabe in front of her home fans to set up the fight between the two. Carmouche has been unstoppable since she signed with Bellator. Macfarlane has bounced back from the first two losses of her career with wins over Bruna Ellen and Watanabe.
There have been reports that Bellator may be on the cusp of being acquired from Paramount, and the strongest rumored bidder has been the PFL. Further speculation has been that Bellator 300 could be the promotion’s final event before a merger.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 300.
