Bellator MMA Welterweight Champion Rory MacDonald defends the gold against fellow UFC veteran Jon Fitch at Bellator 220, with the bout also serving as an opening round bout in the Bellator Welterweight World Grand Prix.
However, according to a report from Ariel Helwani of ESPN, a welterweight title bout will happen at Bellator’s return to Madison Square Garden as the winner of MacDonald/Fitch will face Neiman Gracie. The bout will also serve as a semi-final round encounter in the aforementioned Bellator Welterweight World Grand Prix.
The other welterweight world grand prix bout between former Bellator Welterweight Champion Douglas Lima faces Michael Page at Bellator 221 on May 11.
Gracie (9-0-0) advanced to the semi-finals of the welterweight world grand prix by defeating Ed Ruth by fourth round submission at Bellator 213. Gracie has competed nine times as a professional MMA fighter and just one of his bouts have gone the distance. Gracie has seen seven of his nine professional MMA bouts happen in Bellator MMA, while the other two happened in the World Series Of Fighting.
Bellator 222 takes place on Friday, June 14 from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York with no main event announced at this time. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which will stream live on DAZN.
