Irish fan favourite Charlie Ward will return to the cage for the first time since October 2020 when he faces Alan Carlos at Bellator London next month.
Mirror Fighting can confirm that Ward, once one of the top-ranked middleweights in the promotion, will look to reclaim that top 10 spot in a bout with Brazilian Carlos, who has also been out of action since 2018. The Irishman, from Mountmellick in county Laois, had bounced back from a tough loss towards the end of 2019 with two big wins in 2020, but has since been shelved with injury.
Sources have indicated that Ward, who trains at SBG Ireland alongside Conor McGregor under coach John Kavanagh, is planning to be active in 2022, and has his sights set on the promotion's Dublin card for a second fight later this year.
But first he'll have to get through the veteran Carlos, whose record currently stands at 13-9 after a series of bouts in Cage Warriors and across the European regional circuit. He hasn't fought since an April 2018 win over Norman Paraisy, but will still be a tough test for Ward, who has recently recovered from a ruptured bicep.
He was due to fight Norbert Novenyi jr, and then Fabian Edwards in a major bout at Bellator Dublin in November, but was forced out with injury. Ward has amassed a 9-4 record throughout his career, with a 6-1 record since joining up with the promotion.
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Ward previously fought twice in the UFC, where he was beaten by Abdul Razak Alhassan and Galore Bofando before being released and moving to Bellator. There he moved up to middleweight, and has enjoyed a much more fruitful run, losing just once to Pietro Penini the last time he fought at Wembley Arena.
The card will feature fellow top middleweight Edwards, as well as Novenyi's teammate Michael 'Venom' Page, who both compete in major main card bouts. Edwards will square off with former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, while Page fights for Bellator gold against Logan Storley in an interim welterweight title bout.
Page had been set to face the unbeaten champion Yaroslav Amosov, but he has opted to stay in Ukraine and fight against the Russian invasion of his home country. Instead, Page and Storley will square off for the interim belt, with the co-main event featuring other top contenders Douglas Lima and Jason Jackson squaring off.
Tickets for Bellator 281 MVP vs Storley are on sale now, and are available to purchase via both axs.com/uk and BELLATOR.com
