Bellator 253 Loses Two Bouts Ahead of Thursday’s Card

Bellator 253 has lost a pair of matchups just three days out from Thursday’s card.

Two lightweight bouts -- Shane Kruchten vs. Lance Gibson Jr. and Marcus Surin vs. Ricardo Seixas – have been canceled, Sherdog.com confirmed with a promotion official on Monday. MMyMMANews first reported that Kruchten vs. Gibson Jr. was scrapped due to a positive COVID-19 test involving Kruchten’s team.

Meanwhile, Mark Glover is out of a proposed featherweight bout with Jason Markland and has been replaced by Sullivan Cauley. The other two updates were initially confirmed by MMAjunkie.com.

Bellator 253 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut and is headlined by a featherweight grand prix semifinal pitting Darrion Caldwell against A.J. McKee. The main card airs on CBS Sports and Dazn at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, while the prelims stream on Bellator’s YouTube channel and Dazn beginning at 4:15 p.m. ET/1:15 p.m. PT.