Bellator 301 Loses Juliana Velasquez vs. Paula Cristina, Daniel James vs. Ali Isaev

Bellator MMA’s final event of 2023 will proceed without a pair of its originally scheduled preliminary matchups.

The California-based promotion announced on Monday that a flyweight bout between Juliana Velasquez and Paula Cristina dos Santos Silva and a heavyweight clash pitting Daniel James against Ali Isaev have both been canceled. As a result, the card will move forward with 16 fights.

Bellator 301 takes place on Friday at Wintrust Arena in Chicago and is headlined by a welterweight championship showdown between Yaroslav Amosov and Jason Jackson. In the co-main event, Sergio Pettis and Patrick Mix will square off in a bantamweight title unification bout. The main card airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while prelims begin on the Bellator YouTube channel and Pluto TV beginning at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT.

Velasquez, 38, is coming off back-to-back losses to Liz Carmouche in flyweight title bouts, the most recent of which occurred this past December. The Team Nogueira representative began her professional tenure with nine consecutive triumphs — including seven under the Bellator banner. She captured 125-pound gold with a five-round verdict over Ilima-Lei Macfarlane at Bellator 254 and defended the strap once in a split-decision triumph against Denise Kielholtz at Bellator 262.

Anchored at Nova Uniao, dos Santos Silva has lost two of her last three professional outings. She made her promotional debut at Bellator 296, where she dropped a decision to Kielholtz on May 12.

James saw a five-fight winning streak come to an end in his last outing at Bellator 297, where he dropped a unanimous decision against Gokhan Saricam on June 16.

Isaev, who won the Professional Fighters League heavyweight championship in 2019, returned to action following more than a three-year hiatus at Bellator 290, where he battled Steve Mowry to a unanimous draw on Feb. 4.