Former Bellator MMA champion Phil Davis and Corey Anderson will meet for the first time in June, promotion officials told ESPN on Thursday.
The two will square off on the Bellator 297 main card on June 16 inside Wintrust Arena in Chicago. The event, which airs on Showtime, will feature a light heavyweight title fight between Vadim Nemkov and Yoel Romero, as well as a bantamweight title fight between Sergio Pettis and Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.
Anderson (16-6) is looking to get back on the horse after an unsuccessful title bid against Nemkov in November. The loss snapped a three-fight win streak for Anderson, who suffered a bit of bad luck in April when an accidental clash of heads caused a title fight between him and Nemkov to end in a no-contest. Anderson was winning the bout up until the clash of heads.
Davis (24-6) also came up short in an attempt to dethrone Nemkov in 2021. He has lost to the current champ twice since 2018, via split and unanimous decisions. Other than those two losses, Davis has been perfect inside the Bellator cage over his past nine fights. That 7-2 streak includes wins over Romero, Lyoto Machida and Liam McGeary, whom Davis also defeated in 2016 to capture the Bellator middleweight title.