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After narrowly missing out on featherweight gold in their first bout, Daniel Weichel will get a second shot at 145lb champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire as Bellator returns to Israel for Bellator 188 later this year.

Bellator 188 is set to take place on Thursday, November 16 at the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv, Israel and will mark the promotion’s second visit to the city after a successful sellout show for Bellator 164 last November. The headline bout for this year’s event was announced by Bellator yesterday through their official Twitter.

Having reclaimed the featherweight title at Bellator 178 from the man who defeated him for the belt back in 2015, Daniel Straus, Freire now embarks on his second title reign against a familiar opponent. The first fight between “Pitbull” and Weichel at Bellator 138 saw Weichel scare the Brazilian by flooring him in the first round before Freire battled back to win by KO in round two.

Since then, “The Weasel” has bounced back with four straight victories including wins over Emmanuel Sanchez at Bellator 159 and John Teixeira at Bellator 177 to put himself back in the 145lb title picture.

Also announced for Bellator 188 is a co-main event middleweight clash that sees Alabama native John Salter attempt to build on his six-fight win streak against the highly rated Anatoly Tokov. The Russian fought under the M-1 Global and Absolute Championship Berkut banners before he made a successful Bellator debut in February with a KO win over Francisco France.