Bellator 300 Just Lost A Major Title Fight

Bellator 300, which is set to go down this Sat. night (Oct. 7, 2023) from inside Pechanga Arena in San Diego, Calif., has lost one of its four title fights. According to a report from MMA Junkie, Linton Vassell has been forced to withdraw from his championship rematch against division kingpin, Ryan Bader, due to an undisclosed illness.

Bader initially defeated Vassell back in late 2017 via second-round technical knockout (TKO) to retain his Light Heavyweight title (see it here). After losing two more after that, Vassell racked up five straight victories to put himself in position to rematch “Darth,” this time for the 265-pound strap.

As for Bader, he spent some time as both Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight champion before losing his 205-pound belt to Vadim Nemkov in Aug. 2020 at Bellator 244 (recap here). He has since defended the 265-pound title three times, but his fourth attempt will now have to wait a bit longer.

The Bellator 300 main card will proceed with three titles fights which will be headlined by Usman Nurmagomedov defending his 155-pound strap against Brent Primus in a Grand Prix semifinal matchup. In the co-main event, Cris Cyborg will put her belt on the line against Cat Zingano, while the women’s Flyweight strap will be up for grabs as Liz Carmouche defends against former champion, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane.

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