Austin Vanderford vs. Imamshafi Aliev, Six Other Bouts Complete Bellator 297 Lineup

The card for Bellator 297 is now complete with the addition of seven new bouts.

The California-based promotion announced the fights — highlighted by a preliminary clash between Austin Vanderford and Imamshafi Aliev — via release on Wednesday. The other newly-added matchups are as follows: Jordan Newman vs. Matthew Perry at middleweight; Mike Hamel vs. Shamil Nikaev at lightweight; Leandro Higo vs. Nikita Mikhailov at bantamweight; Cody Law vs. Edwin Chavez at featherweight; Wladimir Gouvea vs. Kevin Childs at heavyweight and Max Metzgar vs. David McKinney at lightweight.

Promotion officials also announced that Kyle Crutchmer will replace Roman Faraldo and face Bobby Nash in a previously-announced welterweight bout.

Bellator 297 takes place at Wintrust Arena in Chicago on June 16 and is headlined by a light heavyweight title tilt between Vadim Nemkov and Yoel Romero, while Sergio Pettis defends his bantamweight crown against Patricio Freire in the co-main event. The evening’s main card airs on Showtime.

After winning his first 11 professional appearances, Vanderford is attempting to return to the win column following back-to-back defeats at the hands of Gegard Mousasi and Aaron Jeffrey.

Russia’s Aliev has won his first nine professional outings. He’s coming off a first-round TKO of Sean Connor Fallon in his promotional debut at Bellator 288.