HONOLULU – It’s fight week for Bellator in Hawaii, but two bouts have been removed from Friday’s event, including the return of “Goyito” Erik Perez.
Bellator 278 takes place at Neal S. Blaisdell Center with the main card airing on Showtime after prelims on MMA Junkie. The event is the first half of a two-night doubleheader for the promotion at the same arena.
Perez (20-8 MMA, 1-2 BMMA) withdrew from his scheduled bantamweight bout against Cee Jay Hamilton (15-9 MMA, 0-2 BMMA) for undisclosed reasons, multiple people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie.
Hamilton will be paid his show money, despite not weighing in or fighting.
Additionally, the previously-scheduled bout between former RIZIN lightweight champion Tofiq Musayev (18-4 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) and Zach Zane (15-11 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) is off for undisclosed reasons. Zane withdrew, a promotion official confirmed to MMA Junkie after an initial report by MMA Fighting.
With the cancellations, the Bellator 278 lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET)
- Champ Juliana Velasquez vs. Liz Carmouche – for women’s flyweight title
- Enrique Barzola vs. Nikita Mikhailov – bantamweight grand prix wild card
- Jornel Lugo vs. Danny Sabatello – bantamweight grand prix wild card
- Christian Edwards vs. Grant Neal
- Nate Andrews vs. Manny Muro
PRELMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie, 9 p.m. ET)
- Weber Almeida vs. Fabricio Franco
- Scotty Hao vs. Dante Schiro
- Makoa Cooper vs. Blake Perry
Two fights scrapped from Bellator 278 lineup, including ‘Goyito’ Erik Perez vs. Cee Jay Hamilton