New Main Event Announced For Bellator 173
Bellator MMA had to scramble once again for a new main event for this Friday’s Bellator 173 event in at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The prelims will air on bellator.spike.com while the four bout main card will air on Spike at 9 p.m. ET.
On Monday, Bellator officials announced that Chris Fields had been forced out of the main event against former Bellator light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary (11-1). Then it was announced that McGeary would fight promotional newcomer Vladimir Filipovic (8-2) at the event. Just 48 hours later, Bellator confirmed that Filipovic is out too due visa issues. Now, McGeary will be fighting Brett McDermott (7-4) on just two days notice.
McDermott has six of his seven career wins by knockout and fought Bellator heavyweight Oli Thompson in December 2014 as well as Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in December 2015 under the Rizin FF banner. He went 2-1 in 2016.
James Gallagher vs. Kirill Medvedovsky in a featherweight bout will serve as the co-main event of Bellator 173. Rounding out the main card will be Sinead Kavanagh vs. Iony Razafiarison in a women’s catchweight bout and Colin Fletcher vs. Alex Lohore in a welterweight bout. Here is the updated card for the event:
MAIN CARD (Spike, 9 p.m. ET via tape delay)
Liam McGeary vs. Brett McDermott
James Gallagher vs. Kirill Medvedovsky
Sinead Kavanagh vs. Iony Razafiarison
Colin Fletcher vs. Alex Lohore
PRELIMINARY CARD (Online)
Norman Parke vs. Paul Redmond
Dominique Wooding vs. Andy Young – for BAMMA interim world flyweight title
Damien Lapilus vs. Ronnie Mann – for vacant BAMMA world featherweight title
Rhys McKee vs. Myles Price – for BAMMA Lonsdale lightweight title
Pelu Adetola vs. John Redmond
Jai Herbert vs. Steve Owens
Daniel Rutkowski vs. Niall Smith
Ross McCorriston vs. Blaine O’Driscoll
Stephen Kilifin vs. Andrew Murphy
Daniel Olejniczak vs. Jonathan Reid
Glenn Irvine vs. Keith McCabe
