COVID-19 Shakes Up Bellator 250

Veta Arteaga | Bellator MMA

Bellator 250 “Mousasi vs. Lima” takes place tonight (Oct. 29, 2020) and airs live on CBS Sports Network at 8:00 p.m. ET, with YouTube “Prelims” at 6:00 p.m ET. The main event will see Douglas Lima (32-7) and Gegard Mousasi (46-7-2) battle to crown a middleweight champion.

At yesterday’s weigh in a featured bout for the main card ran into some trouble. Desiree Yanez (5-2) had no trouble making the cut as she came in at 125 even, but her opponent Veta Arteaga (5-4) just missed the one pound allowance and came in at 126.2. Until today it still seemed that the fight would go ahead given it was such a small amount to be over.

As it turns out the fight has since been scratched but not due to the weight cutting issue.

“My fight is unfortunately cancelled tonight due to my opponent getting tested positive for Covid,” Yanez wrote on Instagram. “I really don’t know what to say other than I was more than ready for battle and still am. Bellator MMA is going to get this match up back as soon as they possibly can. I am beyond devastated, but everything happens for a reason.”

To be clear, Bellator MMA has not confirmed this positive test (and can’t due to HIPAA privacy laws), but the fight has been removed from tonight’s broadcast and replaced by Dalton Rosta (3-0) vs. Ty Gwerder (5-1) at middleweight. The “Prelims” card got shorter as a result, and shorter still when Nick Newell (16-3) did not receive medical clearance for his bout with Zach Zane (14-9) at lightweight.

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