Bellator MMA is loading up its next Dublin-based card with plenty of local talent.
The organization announced on Thursday that it had booked six new matches for the Sept. 23 event at the 3Arena in Dublin. The fight card, titled Bellator 299, appears to have its four-fight main card put together – albeit this could change at any time – with Johnny Eblen vs. Fabian Edwards for the middleweight strap as the main attraction. The new bout that will open it up is a featherweight clash between Sinead Kavanagh (9-5) and Sara Collins (4-0).
Former title challenger Kavanagh is aiming for a three-fight win streak, which would be her longest since starting her career at 4-0. In February 2022, the Irishwoman topped Leah McCourt on the scorecards, and she returned this February to dot he same against Janay Harding. A defeat for the woman known as “KO” would lower her company record to .500 and would tie her for the most losses of any female fighter to step in the Bellator cage.
Australia’s Collins made a splash in her Bellator debut in March, where she landed a scarf hold armlock submission on ex-Invicta Fighting Championships beltholder Pam Sorenson just after the midpoint of Round 1. That fight also marked the first of her young career outside of her native Australia, and the first one to end in the opening frame.
Five other matches are currently slated as prelims on the billing, as released by Bellator. The top tilt in that series is a light heavyweight clash between British finisher Luke Trainer (7-1) and “Captain Lithuania” Laurynas Urbonavicius (14-1). Other matchups include a lightweight bout pitting Scotland’s Mark Ewen (4-0) against French featherweight Noah Gugnon (1-1), a 145-pound “unbeatens collide” affair when Irishman Kenny Mokhonoana (5-0) takes on Josh O'Connor (4-0) from Wales, a strawweight pairing of “Beasty Barbie” Chiara Penco (8-3) and 23-year-old wunderkind Mackenzie Stiller (1-0) and a welterweight battle between Italian Nicolo Solli (4-1, 1 NC) and Parisian power puncher Romain Debienne (9-4).
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