Michael Chandler-Benson Henderson Rematch Set for Bellator Japan

Two men near the top of the Bellator MMA lightweight division are set to run it back in Japan.

On the Bellator 231 broadcast on Friday night, the promotion announced that former lightweight champ Michael Chandler (19-5) will face former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight king Benson Henderson (28-8) in a rematch at Bellator Japan, which will take place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, on Dec. 28. This fight will be serve as the co-main event, as a heavyweight dream matchup between Fedor Emelianenko and Quinton Jackson headlines the card. When the two first met at Bellator 165 in 2016, Chandler escaped with a split decision win and registered a successful title defense.

Chandler has not competed since losing his lightweight strap to Patricio Freire in May, as current featherweight title holder Freire became the company's second simultaneous two-division champ in doing so. The loss snapped a three-fight winning streak, including his victorious five-round rematch against Brent Primus to take back the lightweight throne for the third time. When Chandler handed Primus his first career defeat in December, he placed himself among a very small number of fighters throughout all major organizations who have ever won gold in their weight class three separate times.

Former UFC and World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight champion Henderson is riding a four-fight win streak, and has not suffered a defeat since September 2017. In that span, he finished Roger Huerta with a guillotine choke, and scored decisions over Saad Awad, Adam Piccolotti, and most recently, Myles Jury in September. "Smooth" is still tied for the most consecutive defenses in UFC lightweight title history with three.

Bellator Japan takes place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, on Dec. 28. The event will be headlined by a heavyweight battle between Fedor Emelianenko and Quinton Jackson.