Eduardo Dantas has a new title challenger for Bellator 177.
Dantas will now defend his Bellator bantamweight title against Leandro Higo inside the Budapest Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary on April 14. The title bout is set to headline Bellator 177. “DuDu” was going to defend his championship against Darrion Caldwell, but Caldwell went down with an undisclosed injury. Bellator officials confirmed the news to MMAFighting.com.
After losing the 135-pound gold to Joe Warren back in Oct. 2014, Dantas won his next three bouts. In that span, he recaptured the bantamweight title and defeated Warren in a title rematch.
As for Higo, he is riding an eight-fight winning streak. He hasn’t lost a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) bout since Aug. 2012. He has fought for Resurrection Fighting Alliance and most recently, Legacy Fighting Alliance.
Also featured on the Bellator 177 card will be a featherweight match-up between Daniel Weichel and John Teixeira. Weichel has had 47 professional MMA bouts and is on a three-fight winning streak. He has defeated Georgi Karakhanyan, Emmanuel Sanchez, and Brian Moore in that span. This will be Weichel’s ninth fight under the Bellator banner.
Teixeira has gone 9-0-1 in his last 10 bouts. His last defeat was a split decision to Hugo Viana at UFC 147 back in June 2012.
