Bellator has finalized a huge matchup for November and their lightweight title will be on the line. Patricky Pitbull (24-10) will make the first defense of his lightweight title as he takes on the undefeated Usman Nurmagomedov (15-0).
The matchup will take place at Bellator 288 which goes down on November 18th. MMA Fight Universe was the first to report it. As mentioned, this will be the first title defense for Patricky Pitbull. Pitbull won the vacant lightweight title at Bellator 270 when he knocked out Peter Queally.
Prior to Patricky holding the lightweight belt, his brother Patricio held onto the gold. Patricio vacated the title to focus on featherweight and to let his brother have the opportunity to become Bellator champion and he didn’t disappoint.
Prior to the knockout win over Queally, Pitbull had lost to Queally after suffering a nasty cut. However, when the fight had a true outcome, Pitbull came out on top and became Bellator champion. Now that he’s champion, he’s going to have his hands full defending it.
Bellator’s future champ?
When you have the name Nurmagomedov and you compete in mixed martial arts, there is going to be a lot of hype surrounding you. That was the case with young Usman Nurmagomedov when he signed with Bellator in 2021.
The cousin of All-Time great Khabib Nurmagomedov, Usman was 10-0 when he signed with Bellator. In early 2021, he made his debut against Mike Hamel and would win that fight by decision.
So far in his Bellator career he’s gone a perfect 4-0. He continuously looks better and better every time we see him in the cage. The last time we saw him was at Bellator 283 when he took on Chris Gonzalez.
Nurmagomedov ran right through him and submitted him in the first round. I haven’t seen the odds for this Bellator title fight, but my assumption is that Nurmagomedov is the favorite and for good reason. It will be hard to bet against him becoming the second Nurmagomedov to win a world championship in MMA.