Bellator MMA has been putting on some really great and exciting fights lately. The fighters have been fighting their hearts out and constantly make fans stand up and notice. Two fighters who have been phenomenal are the current Bellator MMA lightweight champion, Brent Primus and the former Bellator MMA lightweight champion, Michael Chandler. The pair were again widely expected to face each other in a high profile rematch at Bellator 197. Alas! the rematch has now been scrapped off, after Primus suffered an injury. Chandler will instead now face Brandon Girtz in the main-event at Bellator 197.
Primus is currently undefeated with a MMA record of 8-0. He currently has a six fight win streak in Bellator. The current champion has a background in grappling and is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He has four submission victories to his name and has notable victories over fighters such as Michael Chandler, Derek Anderson, Gleristone Santos, Chris Jones, etc. He faced Chandler at Bellator NYC on June 24th, 2017 and defeated him in arguably the biggest upset win of Bellator’s history.
On the other hand, Chandler is considered to be the greatest lightweight champion in Bellator’s history. He holds a MMA record of 17-4 and has many notable victories over fighters such as Benson Henderson, Eddie Alvarez, Derek Campos, Marcin Held, Patricky Freire, etc. He lost the belt to Primus after he suffered after the fight was stopped, due to him suffering a leg injury. While, Girtz has a record of 15-7 and finally came back to winning ways in his last fight, after losing three consecutive fights.
The news was first broken by MMA Fighting, after Girtz had sent out a tweet hinting at a potential fight against Chandler. MMA Junkie have now reported the news, claiming that, “a person with knowledge of the situation”, has confirmed it to their sources. Hence, after Primus pulling out due to an injury, Chandler will now be facing Girtz in the headliner for Bellator 197.
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