You can remove the TBA from the main event of Bellator 163 set for the Mohegan S🎐un Arena on Nov. 4 in Uncasville, Conn.: Liam McGeary will defend his light heavyweight title in a long-awaꦐited matchup with top contender Phil Davis, The Post has learned.
“It’s going to a big, big additiღon to a big lineup already,” Bellator President Scott Coker told The Post in announcing the bout. “It’s a fight I’ve been looking to make for the last six months, so we’re excited.”
This will be McGeary🗹’s second title defense. The Englishman hasn’t fought since Sept. 19, 2015, when he successfully defended his belt by defeating Tito Ortiz by submission in the first round at Bellator 142 in San Jose, Calif. On that same night, Davis won a four-man light heavyweight tourn🌠ament to become the mandatory challenger. Davis defeated former light heavy champion Emanuel Newton and Francis Carmont to earn the title shot.
There are plenty of area ties to the matchup. M𓄧cGeary trains out💎 of New York with Team Renzo Gracie. Davis (16-3-1, 3-0 with Bellator) grew up in Harrisburg, Penn., and was an All-America wrestler at Penn State.
“We were b𒁃ouncing this fight around for different places, but we felt being so close to New York City for Liam and being a Renzo Gracie student and training and living in Manhattan, we thought it would be a great fight to take to the Mohegan Sun,” Coker said. “We have great fans there, passionate fans and really knowledgeable fans. We’ve put on some great events there, and I think the fans will appreciate this s💯how.”
McGeary (11-0, 8-0 with Bellator) won the light heavyweight title by defeating Newton in a five-round unanimous decision at Bellator 134 on Feb. 27, 2015, at the Mohegan Sun, ending Newton’s seven-fight winning streak. Seven months later, McGeary dominated Ortiz, forcing the former UFC champion to tap to a reverse triangle at 4:42 of t💯he opening round. McGeary strained his medial collateral ligament during the bout𓄧 and has been out of action since.
While McGeary is a “home-grown” product of Bellator, Davis was the first free agent to jump from UFC to Bellator. A⛄fter joining the UFC in 2010 and failing to win a title, he signed with Bellator in April 2015. In his last outing, while waiting for McGeary to heal, he defeated Muhammed Lawal by unanimous decision at Bellator 154.
Ti💫ckets for the even🌱t to be televised on Spike are already on sale.
Bellator has set its schedule through December, including a Dec. 10 card in Florence, Italy. Coker said Bellator will make its New York debut sometime in the first quarter of 2017. The company already has received its promotional licen🤪se from the New York State Athletic Commission. New York became the last state to legalize mixed martial arts when a new bill passed by the State Assembly was signed in April.
“We’re a company based at 1515 Broadway and have 80 percent of our employees working out of New York City,” Coker said. “When we come to New York, we’re going to bring it. We’ve talked to a couple of venues, and it’s just a matter of getting a date. It’s a little tough to get a date when you’re talking about basketball schedules and hockey schedules and all the other activities happening in New York. We didn’t want to do someꦜthing at a small venue✅. When we come to New York, we’re going to do it right and make it big.”