Bellator MMA announced Tuesday its plan to return to the SSE Arena at Wembley in London, England later this year.
The organization is planning on headlining an Oct. 1 card with a rematch between top welterweights Douglas “The Phenom” Lima and Michael “Venom” Page.
An event scheduled to take place May 16, 2020 at the SSE Arena was cancelled due to COVID-19. Bellator hosted five international events in 2020 – one in Ireland, one in France and three in Italy – but hasn’t travelled to England since 2019.
Lima (32-9) knocked out Page when they first met at Bellator 221 in May of 2019 but has gone just 1-2 since then. He won back his welterweight title when he avenged a previous loss to Rory MacDonald before dropping back-to-back decisions to middleweight champ Gegard Mousasi and now-reigning welterweight titleholder Yaroslav Amosov.
“(Page) has put together an impressive string of wins together, but when he gets back in the cage with me, the end result is going to be the same as the first time,” Lima said in a press release. “Right now, I’m on a mission to put the Bellator belt back around my waist. Anyone standing in my way will be dismantled.”
Page (19-1) has won five in a row since his first and only loss in mixed martial arts.
Earlier today, Bellator announced the rematch between Douglas Lima and Michael "Venom" Page, taking place in London on Oct. 1.
Their first fight produced one of the most memorable knockouts in the promotion's history (via @BellatorMMA) pic.twitter.com/lssVOao7vZ— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 27, 2021
“The comeback is always bigger than the setback,” Page added. “It was always gonna happen, it’s written in the stars. The one and only MVP is back, and I will have my redemption in front of my hometown the only way I know how – in venomous style.”
Below is the proposed Bellator London card as it currently stands.
MAIN CARD
-- Douglas Lima vs. Michael Page
-- Robert Whiteford vs. Andrew Fisher
-- Yves Landu vs. Tim Wilde
-- Luke Trainer vs. Yannick Bahati
PRELIMINARY CARD
-- Lewis Long vs. Uros Jurisic
-- Kane Mousah vs. Davy Gallon
-- Lucie Bertaud vs. Elina Kallionidou
-- Charlie Leary vs. Gavin Hughes
-- Fabacary Diatta vs. Nathan Rose
-- Khurshed Kakhorov vs. Mike Ekundayo
