Ryan Bader vs. Cheick Kongo has been made official.
Earlier today (July 11), Bellator sent out a press release confirming the heavyweight title matchup. Bader will put his heavyweight gold up for grabs for the first time. “Darth” won the title back in Jan. 2019, starching Fedor Emelianenko in the finals of the Bellator Heavyweight World Grand Prix.
Kongo has earned his title opportunity with an eight-fight winning streak. His last defeat was back in Feb. 2015. Kongo handed Vitaly Minakov the first loss of his professional mixed martial arts career via unanimous decision back in Feb. 2019.
The heavyweight title clash goes down on Sept. 7 in the Bellator 226 headliner. Also featured on the card will be the start of the Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix. While no tournament matches have been announced for Bellator 226, news broke that 145-pound champion Patricio Freire will put his gold on the line against Juan Archuleta on Sept. 28. That bout will also be part of the Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix.
Bellator 226 will air live exclusively on DAZN at 10 p.m. ET. San Jose, California will be the location and the SAP Center will be the venue. The press release also notes that every Bellator Featherweight Grand Prix bout will air exclusively on DAZN.
