At Bellator 297, two exciting title fights will be taking place on June 16th in Chicago. In the main event, Vadim Nemkov is going to defend his light heavyweight belt against former UFC champion Yoel Romero. Plus, Sergio Pettis will make his comeback and face Patricio Pitbull for the bantamweight championship.
Bellator has confirmed to MMA Fighting on Monday that a new match between Nemkov and Romero is taking place. They were originally supposed to have it in February, but Nemkov had just won the belt two months earlier and needed some more time before fighting again. Now, he and the Olympic silver medalist in wrestling, Romero, will battle it out for his first title with Bellator since he joined late last year.
Pettis is a bantamweight fighter who won the title in 2021. Since then, he has been injured and couldn’t fight in Bellator’s Bantamweight Grand Prix tournament. Meanwhile, Stots and Mix will compete for an interim title on April 22nd.
Overall, Pettis has had five successful bouts since joining Bellator from UFC. He has won all of those fights, including three straight wins.
The upcoming fight will be a really special moment for Pitbull. He wants to become the first fighter in Bellator that has won titles in three separate divisions. Pitbull already holds the Bellator featherweight title after getting a win over Michael Chandler with a knockout back in 2019 for the lightweight belt.
Pitbull will try to win the bantamweight champion title when he fights Pettis in June. The battle will take place at Wintrust Arena, which is where DePaul University’s basketball team and Chicago Sky of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) plays.
