Bellator 301 — which is set to go down this Friday (Nov. 17, 2023) in Chicago, Ill — has lost two fights. According to MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin, a Heavyweight collision between Daniel James and Ali Isaev, as well as a women’s Flyweight fight between former champion, Juliana Velasquez, and Paula Cristina was axed. No reasons were given for the sudden change, but the card still has a whopping 16 fights to satisfy your combat cravings.
James was hoping to bounce back after suffering the first loss of his Bellator career at the hands of Gokhan Saricam. As for Isaev, he was last seen fighting to a draw against Steve Mowry at Bellator 290, so the undefeated 9-0-1 big man will have to wait a bit longer to get back into the win column.
As for Velasquez, she was looking to snap her two-fight skid after dropping back-to-back title fights to Liz Carmouche, while Cristina was eyeing first win under the Bellator banner after coming up short in her debut against Denise Kielholtz earlier this year.
The event will be headlined by a Welterweight title fight between division champion, Yaroslav Amosov, defending his belt against Jason Jackson. In the co-main event, Bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis will face interim champion Patchy Mix in a title unification match.
Also, Patricky Pitbull takes on Alexandr Shabliy in a Lightweight Grand Prix bout, while A.J. McKee returns to take on Sidney Outlaw in a Lightweight affair. Plus, a Bantamweight rematch between Danny Sabatello and Raufeon Stots will go down on the main card.
I thought 300 was the end of the road
The HW fight is the sacrifice required for the MMA gods to remove a WMMA fight from the card…fair trade off
Bellator is still a thing?
No
Lame was looking forward to that Heavyweight.
To see if Isaev came back with some fire this time.
And the oldschool battle ready Daniel James to keep going. Keep being active. Providing fun fights and finishes.
Lame
RICHARD PALENCIA FROM THE MMA LAB MAKES HIS RETURN ON THIS CARD. A WIN HERE SHOULD GET HIM THE FIGHT ON D.W.C.S. HE WAS PROMISED DURING COVID
Forum from Bellator 28 called & wants its edgy post back.
Patchy Mix is the next AJ Mckee imo, very special.
And of course AJ, Stotts, Shabley will beat Pitbull, …I want Amasov & he should win.
So I’ll be rooting for him & laying 200 on Jackson, the live dog.
Every fight card is built upon questions that the bouts then proceed to answer. Can the fighter who enters the cage as champion walk out still in possession of the belt? Will the competitor with an unbeaten record or a winning streak keep the run of success alive? Who will step up within reach of a title shot?
Bellator 301 will answer those questions on Friday in Chicago (9 p.m. ET, Showtime). But a more existential matter could very well remain an open question following Bellator 301: Will there be a Bellator 302?
Bellator MMA is reportedly on the verge of being bought by the PFL. Bellator president Scott Coker has spoken about the negotiations, as have PFL officials. However, all talk of the potential sale has been cloaked in the vagueness that comes with unfinished business. Adding to the uncertainty, Bellator has yet to schedule any fights beyond those on Friday at Wintrust Arena.
One thing we can say for sure: If this is the end for Bellator, the company is going out with a bang. Bellator 301 features a pair of championship fights, the renewal of a heated rivalry with an added geographic twist, the return of a homegrown star and the continuation – or culmination? – of a tournament.
Here are the questions Friday’s fights will set out to answer.
Should a certain retired fighter over in Dagestan be getting nervous?
Providing the answer: Welterweight championship: Yaroslav Amosov (c) vs. Jason Jackson
When Khabib Nurmagomedov retired in 2020 as UFC lightweight champion, he walked away at 29-0, still the winningest undefeated record in MMA history. But footsteps are creeping up from behind. Amosov, who defends his welterweight championship against Jackson in the main event, is 27-0 and counting.
Amosov might have passed Nurmagomedov already if not for his 20-month hiatus from the sport to defend his home country, Ukraine, from the Russian invasion. Amosov returned to the Bellator cage in February and put on a dominant performance against Logan Storley. Now comes Jackson (16-4), who has won six in a row but has not competed in nearly a year and a half.
Should Bellator go belly up and its fighters set free, Amosov would be a hot commodity – if he keeps his “0” this week.
Which belt will make a winning fashion statement?
Sergio Pettis defends his bantamweight title at Bellator 301 against Patchy Mix. Courtesy of Bellator MMA
Providing the answer: Bantamweight championship: Sergio Pettis (c) vs. Patchy Mix (ic)
Pettis (23-5) is 5-0 inside the Bellator cage since coming from the UFC in 2020. The last two of those wins have been special. He won the bantamweight title in 2021 with ESPN’s Finish of the Year, a spinning backfist that produced a comeback KO of former champ Kyoji Horiguchi. Then, after missing a year and a half to undergo knee surgery, Pettis defended his belt against the greatest Bellator fighter ever, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, and won a lopsided decision.
But Mix (18-1) might be the most formidable challenge of all. He became an interim champ in April when he knocked out Raufeon Stots in 80 seconds in the final of the Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix. Mix is explosive and versatile, with finishes in 12 of his last 13 wins. His only loss was a 2020 bid for this same title, and here comes a second opportunity. This fight – champ vs. interim champ – has a good shot at being Fight of the Night.
At Bellator’s prefight press conference on Wednesday, both fighters sat with shiny belts slung over their shoulders. But Mix let it be known that he’d come to Chicago to trade in his strap. “This belt, it doesn’t mean much,” he said. “It’s for the pictures and stuff up here. But I want the real, undisputed belt. That’s the belt that I failed to capture a few years ago, and that’s the goal that I set for myself. So Friday I get that opportunity.”
Who rules the turf alongside Lake Michigan?
Providing the answer: Bantamweight: Raufeon Stots vs. Danny Sabatello
The record shows that Stots (19-2) and Sabatello (14-3) have fought once before. But anyone who lived through the nasty leadup to their December 2022 bout, won by Stots via split decision, witnessed a lot of verbal combat – the real first fight between these two.
An added factor for this second (third?) meeting: Chicago is Sabatello’s hometown, and Stots has trained for nearly a decade 90 miles up the road in Milwaukee. So, who really owns the Midwest turf?
“Now we’re in my backyard,” Sabatello said during one of many contentious back-and-forths during the press conference. “I run Chicago.”
“It’s pretty funny that it’s his hometown,” countered Stots, “but I bet I get a bigger pop from the crowd.”
Sabatello: “You think the crowd is going to be on your side?”
Stots: “I definitely do. I think the people in your hometown hate you.”
Is this finally a night for the star to shine?
AJ McKee fights for the first time in 2023 at Bellator 301. Rizin FF
Providing the answer: Lightweight: AJ McKee vs. Sidney Outlaw
McKee is 20-1 in his MMA career. His record in Bellator: 20-1. He is the promotion’s shiniest homegrown star, but the 28-year-old has not fought in nearly a year. It’s time for him to remind everyone how elite he is.
The former featherweight champ suffered his only loss in 2022 against another former champ, Patricio Pitbull, whom McKee had submitted in under two minutes the year before. McKee is now three fights into his run at 155 pounds, and if he wins and Bellator survives beyond this weekend, the lightweight division will have a force to contend with.
McKee and Outlaw (17-5) were part of the original Lightweight World Grand Prix bracket, but both had to drop out because of injury. Those withdrawals might prompt some to overlook this matchup, but in Outlaw’s eyes, he and McKee are two of the best 155-pounders in any fight organization. “It’s going to be a monster against a monster,” he said.
When a semifinal happens at a (possible) finale, can we just call it a final?
Providing the answer: Lightweight: Patricky “Pitbull” Freire vs. Alexander Shabliy
This fight is a semifinal of the Bellator Lightweight World Grand Prix. But both men are treating it like a final – and not simply because the fight company’s future is up in the air.