Hard-hitting heavyweight star Roy Nelson is officially off the Bellator 200 card.
Nelson was slated to fight Mirko Cro Cop in an alternate bout for the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix at the upcoming Bellator 200 event. However, the MMA Legend suffered a knee injury and had to be pulled from the card.
There was some hope that the promotion could find a replacement opponent to fight Nelson at this event but that will not be the case.
Nelson made his Bellator debut at Bellator 183 in September with a hard-fought victory over Javy Ayala.
He then suffered a decision loss to Matt Mitrione in his quarter-final bout. Thus, this could give Nelson another shot at getting back into the tournament and possible shot at the vacant heavyweight title.
Bellator MMA President Scott Coker told members of the media on Wednesday Nelson will be compensated for the lost fight but an exact amount wasn’t disclosed. Coker added that the heavyweight star would be rebooked as quickly as possible for another card.
Bellator 200 is set to take place on Friday, May 25, 2018 at the SSE Arena, Wembley in London, England
The preliminary card will air online at 7:00 pm EST while the main card will air on Paramount Network at 9:00 PM EST.
Rafael Carvalho (c) vs. Gegard Mousasi in a middleweight title bout will headline this event while Michael Page vs. David Rickels in a welterweight bout will serve as the co-main event.
Rounding out the five bout main card is Phil Davis vs. Linton Vassell in a light heavyweight bout, Aaron Chalmers vs. Ash Griffiths in a catchweight bout, and Anastasia Yankova vs. Kate Jackson in a female flyweight bout. Here is the final card for this event:
MAIN CARD (Paramount Network/9 p.m. ET)
Bellator Middleweight Championship: Rafael Carvalho (c) vs. Gegard Mousasi
Welterweight: Michael Page vs. David Rickels
Light Heavyweight: Phil Davis vs. Linton Vassell
Catchweight: Aaron Chalmers vs. Ash Griffiths
Female Flyweight: Anastasia Yankova vs. Kate Jackson
PRELIMINARY CARD (Paramount Network.com)
Middleweight: Mike Shipman vs. Carl Noon
Featherweight: Chad Griffiths vs. Tom Mearns
Lightweight: Ryan Scope vs. Martyn Harris
Middleweight: Charlie Ward vs. Louis King
Featherweight: Saul Rogers vs. Jeremy Petley
Featherweight: Pedro Carvalho vs. Daniel Crawford
Middleweight: Anatoly Tokov vs. Vladimir Filipovic
Middleweight: Kevin Fryer vs. Costello Van Steenis
Lightweight: Charlie Leary vs. Tom Green
Welterweight: Kent Kauppinen vs. Walter Gahadza
Welterweight: Jahreau Shephard vs. Marcin Zywica
Flyweight: Amir Albazi vs. Iurie Bejenari
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