There has been a last minute change at the top of this Friday’s Bellator 200 card, meaning there is a new main event.
The fight between Mirko Cro Cop and Roy Nelson has been nixed due to the Croatian suffering from an unspecified injury. As a result, the former the co-main between reigning Bellator middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho and Gegard Mousasi has now been elevated to the new headliner.
Since defeating Brandon Halsey back in 2015, Brazil’s Carvalho has gone onto defend the title on three occasions earning a pair of wins against Melvin Manhoef at Bellator 155 and Bellator 172 followed by 44-second demolition of Alessio Sakara at Bellator 190 last December.
Now the champion will enter the SSE Arena this Friday looking to successfully defend his 185lbs title for the fourth defence against a man who will on paper at least pose the toughest test of his career to date.
The man standing across the Bellator cage from the champion will be Gegard Mousasi who made his promotional debut last October at Bellator 185 in a lacklustre unanimous decision win over former champion Alexander Shlemenko.
Despite his lukewarm start to his Bellator career the Dutch-Armenian fighter will be looking to rediscover the blistering run of form before he made the switch to the Scott Coker-Led promotion that saw him defeat the likes of Chris Weidman, Vitor Belfort and Dan Henderson and add Bellator gold to his already extensive belt collection.
Bellator 200 takes place on Friday, May 25 at The SSE Arena, Wembley in London and MMA Plus will be on hand to bring you the latest from the event.
Bellator 200 Main Card
Rafael Carvalho (15-1) vs. Gegard Mousasi (43-6-2)
Mirko Cro Cop (36-11-2, 1 NC) vs. Roy Nelson (23-15)
Michael Page (12-0) vs. David Rickels (19-4, 2 NC)
Aaron Chalmers (3-0) vs. Ash Griffiths (4-5)
Phil Davis (18-4, 1 NC) vs. Linton Vassell (18-6, 1 NC)
Bellator 200 Undercard
Anastasia Yankova (5-0) vs. Kate Jackson (9-3)
Anatoly Tokov (25-3) vs. Vladimir Filipovic (10-2)
Daniel Crawford (10-1) vs. Pedro Carvalho (6-3)
Ryan Scope (10-1) vs. Martyn Harris (4-4)
Mike Shipman (11-1) vs. Carl Noon (7-2)
Charlie Ward (4-3) vs. Louis King (1-1)
Jeremy Petley (12-8-1) vs. Saul Rogers (12-2)
Kevin Fryer (6-2) vs. Costello Van Steenis (9-1)
Charlie Leary (14-8-1) vs. Tom Green (12-2)
Kent Kauppinen (10-3) vs. Walter Gahadza (16-3)
Jahreau Shephard (0-1) vs. Marcin Zywica (2-0)
Chad Griffiths (6-0) vs. Tom Mearns (6-0)
Amir Albazi (10-0) vs. Iurie Bejenari (6-2)