According to a report from MMA Fighting's Guilherme Cruz, former Bellator Middleweight Champion Rafael Carvalho is set for a return to the Bellator cage.
Carvalho (15-3) is currently riding a two fight losing streak, first dropping his title against Gegard Mousasi and then more recently, losing a split decision opposite Lyoto Machida. Before that, Carvalho hadn't lost since his professional debut though, winning six of six in Bellator. However, he now seeks a return to the win column, reportedly fighting Chidi Njokuani on July 12, 2019.
Njokuani enters off a defeat himself, going 5-2 in his quite unique Bellator stint thus far. After entering as a Welterweight, Njokuani has since fluctuated in weight, missing weight twice for Catchweight bouts. The latter of those resulted in a loss for him too, being stopped by Andrey Koreshkov and going 1-1 since. Most recently, Njokuani (18-6) was submitted by John Salter. Now seemingly settled at Middleweight though, he has a major opportunity here against Carvalho.
Bellator 224 will take place in Thackerville, Oklahoma and is currently headlined by Julia Budd's title defense against Olga Rubin.