Bellator Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Shifts, ‘Rumble’ vs. Romero Moves to May

Updates to our upcoming slate of events: https://t.co/EQYcxbxoaH

— Bellator Public Relations (@BellatorPR) March 26, 2021

Two sections of the Bellator MMA light heavyweight grand prix are being pushed back, but the pairings are all still intact.

The organization announced via press release on Friday that two of the four light heavyweight tilts for the quarterfinals of its tournament had been pushed back. Corey Anderson (14-5) vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov (18-5-1), which was booked for Bellator 256 on April 9, has now been relocated to Bellator 257 one week later. Additionally, the highly anticipated battle between Anthony Johnson (22-6) and Yoel Romero (13-5) has been bumped from its previous placement of Bellator 257 to Bellator 258 on May 7.

The reasons for the changes were explained by Bellator President Scott Coker. He stated, “Like everyone, we had a few hurdles with travel issues and had to move some things around, but I'm pleased that we were able to reschedule these bouts quickly. We now have three stacked events in a row featuring quarterfinal matchups on Showtime, while also adding other incredible fights to each of these cards.”

As a result of the shifts, Anderson vs. Yagshimuradov will serve as the co-main event of Bellator 257, while “Rumble” vs. Romero finds itself in the co-headlining slot on Bellator 258. Barring any additional changes, the semifinals for the tournament will be set on May 7. Each of these tournament bouts are scheduled for five rounds, regardless of card placement or title implications. The Ryan Bader-Lyoto Machida rematch kicks off the grand prix on April 9, then two tourney tilts in Anderson-Yagshimuradov and Vadim Nemkov vs. Phil Davis 2 will be going down on April 16. The quarterfinals conclude on May 7 with Johnson’s rumble with Romero.

The alterations to Bellator 258 also confirm a few recently reported or rumored bouts. On the main card, Patrick Mix (13-1) will be officially taking on James Gallagher (11-1) at bantamweight. In the preliminary portion of the event, Alan Omer (24-5) faces Bryce Logan (12-5) in the lightweight division. An unconfirmed match from MMA Fighting that will likely gain main card placement is a 155-pound tilt between Patricky Freire (23-9) and Peter Queally (12-5-1). The two were originally planning on meeting at an event in Ireland in late 2020, but that card was scuttled due to the coronavirus pandemic.