Bellator 224 Gets Leslie Smith vs. Sinead Kavanagh, A.J. Agazarm’s Second MMA Bout

Leslie Smith will make her promotional return against Sinead Kavanagh, and A.J. Agazarm will face Jacob Landin at Bellator 224.

Sherdog.com confirmed the bookings with a promotion official on Tuesday. MMAFighting.com was first to report Smith vs. Kavanagh, a featherweight matchup likely for the preliminary card. Agazarm vs. Landin will be contested at lightweight and is also set for the prelims.

Bellator 224 takes place at Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla., on July 12 and is headlined by a featherweight title tilt between Julia Budd and Olga Rubin. The main card airs on Paramount Network and DAZN at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT, while prelims stream at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT on Bellator.com and DAZN.

Smith, who has made headlines for her efforts to unionize fighters, was let go by the UFC in 2017 despite having won three of her last four Octagon appearances. Her resume includes triumphs over Irene Aldana, Rin Nakai, Jennifer Maia, Raquel Pennington and Kaitlin Young.

Ireland’s Kavanagh has struggled of late, losing three of her last four Bellator outings. Most recently, the SBG Ireland product suffered a TKO defeat due to a cut against Janay Harding at Bellator 207.

A Gracie-Barra jiu-jitsu black belt who wrestled at Ohio State University, Agazarm suffered a split decision loss to Jesse Roberts in his promotional debut at Bellator 214. Landin, meanwhile, will make his first Bellator foray after losing his pro debut in June 2017.