| Bellator 278: Velasquez vs. Carmouche | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for Bellator 278: Velasquez vs. Carmouche | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Bellator MMA | |||
| Date | April 22, 2022 | |||
| Venue | Neal S. Blaisdell Arena | |||
| City | Honolulu, Hawaii, United States | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
Bellator 278: Velasquez vs. Carmouche was a mixed martial arts event produced by Bellator MMA that took place on April 22, 2022, at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Bellator 278 was dedicated for military and first responders meaning that there will be no tickets on sale to the general public. [4] The event was headlined a Bellator Women's Flyweight Title Bout between undefeated flyweight champ, Juliana Velasquez and challenger Liz Carmouche. [7]
The event also featured two wild card qualifier bouts for the Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix due to injuries removing Bellator Bantamweight World Champion Sergio Pettis and James Gallagher from the tournament. Josh Hill was to face Enrique Barzola with the winner later meeting Magomed Magomedov in the opening round, while the winner of the second qualifier between Jornel Lugo and Danny Sabatello would face Leandro Higo in the first round of the tournament. [8] Due to Covid, Hill had to pull out of the bout and was replaced by Nikita Mikhailov. [9] [10]
A bantamweight bout between Cee Jay Hamilton and Jared Scoggins was scheduled for this event. [11] However, Scoggins pulled out of the bout for unknown reasons and was replaced by Érik Pérez. [12] Pérez in turn pulled out of the bout and Hamilton was not rebooked, instead being paid his show money, despite not weighing in or fighting. [13]
A lightweight bout between Tofiq Musayev and Zach Zane was scheduled for this event. [14] However, the bout was scrapped after Zane pulled out due to unknown reasons and Tofiq wasn't rebooked against a new opponent. [15]
| Main Card (Showtime) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Women's Flyweight | Liz Carmouche | def. | Juliana Velasquez (c) | TKO (elbows) | 4 | 4:47 | [lower-alpha 1] |
| Catchweight (140 lb) | Enrique Barzola | def. | Nikita Mikhailov | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | [lower-alpha 2] |
| Bantamweight | Danny Sabatello | def. | Jornel Lugo | Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 30–26, 30–26) | 3 | 5:00 | [lower-alpha 3] |
| Light Heavyweight | Grant Neal | def. | Christian Edwards | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (160 lb) | Manny Muro | def. | Nate Andrews | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (Youtube/Pluto TV) | |||||||
| Featherweight | Weber Almeida | def. | Fabricio Franco | TKO (leg kick) | 1 | 3:01 | |
| Welterweight | Dante Schiro | def. | Scotty Hao | TKO (punches) | 3 | 1:03 | |
| Welterweight | Blake Perry | def. | Makoa Cooper | Submission (anaconda choke) | 2 | 4:14 | |
Liz Carmouche is an American mixed martial arts fighter currently signed to Bellator MMA, where she is the current Bellator Women's Flyweight World Champion. Carmouche competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the Women's Flyweight and Women's Bantamweight divisions. At the time of her UFC departure, she was #4 in the UFC women's flyweight rankings.
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Bellator 279: Cyborg vs. Blencowe 2 was a mixed martial arts event produced by Bellator MMA held on April 23, 2022, at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States.
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