The Rookies: Bellator 299

Otto Rodrigues spent nearly 16 years scratching and clawing his way toward big-league acceptance. Now, he gets his chance to show he belongs.

The former Jungle Fight champion will be one of nine Bellator MMA rookies on the Bellator 299 lineup when he confronts Brian Moore as part of the undercard this Saturday at 3Arena in Dublin. Rodrigues carries a 13-1 record into his promotional debut and enters the cage on the strength of a 12-fight winning streak that stretches back to 2008. The 35-year-old Brazilian last competed on July 8, 2021, when he took a unanimous decision from Carlos Augusto Santos da Silva under the Legacy Fighting Alliance banner. He withdrew from an April 22 booking opposite Aaron Pico at Bellator 295.

Rodrigues operates out of the X-Gym academy in Rio de Janeiro, where he trains under Sylvio Behring, Cesario Bezerra and Josuel Distak, and has also spent time at the Pitbull Brothers camp in Natal, Brazil. He has delivered nearly half (six) of his 13 career victories by submission, including a July 2015 arm-triangle choke finish of Luiz Carlos Silva Pereira Carvalho that brought him the vacant Jungle Fight featherweight crown.

Meanwhile, Laurynas Urbonavicius joins Rodrigues as one of the more compelling organizational newcomers on the card, as he tackles the once-beaten Luke Trainer in a three-round light heavyweight prelim. The 35-year-old Lithuanian sports a 14-1 record and finds himself on a run of eight consecutive victories. Urbonavicius last fought at a Unique & Talented Martial Artists event on Dec. 8, when he nailed down a first-round technical knockout against Deniss Vasilijevs. He boasts 11 finishes on his resume, with 10 of them having occurred inside one round.

Further down the card, Poland’s Przemyslaw Gorny steps up to the plate with the wind of a three-fight winning streak in his sails and collides with undefeated SBG Ireland prospect Ciaran Clarke in an intriguing featherweight prelim. A Valiant Gold Team product, Gorny has delivered four of his five victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission. He last suited up at a Solo Combat Federation event, where he buried Szymon Milion with punches 4:01 into the first round of their Oct. 14 encounter.

Not to be overlooked, debuting Welsh featherweight Josh O'Connor risks his unblemished 4-0 record when he takes on the undefeated Kenny Mokhonoana as part of the undercard. O’Connor, 24, has stopped each of his first four opponents as a pro. He last competed on March 4, when he knocked out Aratz Garmendia a little more than three minutes into their clash under the Budo Fighting Championships flag.

Two debutants are scheduled to lock horns with one another, as undefeated Scotsman Mark Ewen toes the line against unbeaten Frenchman Noah Gugnon as part of the undercard. The lightweight hopefuls have combined for eight wins, all of them finishes. Ewen, 4-0, used a first-round knockout of Khairulla Khairullaev at an Ares Fighting Championship event in December as his springboard to Bellator, while Gugnon moved to 4-0 with a second-round technical knockout of Dukwach Kadimagomaev under the Kingdom Fighting banner on June 10.

Finally, Dutch newcomer Jelle Zeegers matches wits and fists with SBG Ireland’s Darragh Kelly at 145 pounds, and Libya-born Manchester Top Team featherweight Ibrahim Al-Faqih Hassan rides back-to-back victories into his company debut opposite Asael Adjoudj.