Former interim heavyweight champion Valentin Moldavsky will square off against Linton Vassell in a rematch on the Bellator 292 main card.
Promotion officials announced the pairing on Wednesday. Moldavsky defeated Vassell via unanimous decision in their first meeting at Bellator 218 in March 2019. Additionally, two preliminary bouts were confirmed for the event: James Gallagher vs. Leandro Higo at bantamweight and Keri Melendez vs. Bruna Ellen at flyweight.
Bellator 292 takes place at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on March 10 and is headlined by a lightweight grand prix quarterfinal matchup pitting Usman Nurmagomedov against Benson Henderson. Another 155-pound quarterfinal between Tofiq Musayev and Alexandr Shabliy is also set for the card. The Bellator 292 main card airs on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on the Bellator MMA YouTube channel, the Showtime Sports YouTube channel and Pluto TV at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.
Moldavsky captured the interim heavyweight crown with a five-round verdict over Timothy Johnson at Bellator 261 before dropping a unanimous decision to Ryan Bader in a title unification bout at Bellator 273. Most recently, the 30-year-old Russian saw a clash with Steve Mowry at Bellator 284 end in just 54 seconds due to an accidental eye poke.
A former light heavyweight title challenger, Vassell has won four consecutive contests since falling to Moldavsky. In his lone appearance of 2022, “The Swarm” scored a first-round TKO against Johnson at Bellator 277 this past April.
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