[[WATCH>>STREAMS!]] Bellator Champions Series: Belfast Live Free Online Broadcast 22 March 2024
Bellator 302 card, date, schedule, how to watch online: Where to watch Corey Anderson vs Karl Moore, other fights
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Bellator 302 is all set to be held in Northern Ireland on Friday night. Bellator MMA's return to Belfast is significant as it will be first since Bellator 173 in February 2017.
Bellator MMA returns to Belfast on Friday for the promotion's first event since being acquired by Professional Fighters League. Bellator 302 is the first Bellator event held in Belfast since Bellator 173 in February 2017. Unlike that event, which featured no title bouts, the Bellator 302 card is topped by a pair of championship showdowns.
In the main event, Corey Anderson and Karl Moore will battle for the vacant light heavyweight championship. The belt became available after Vadim Nemkov chose to vacate the belt in a move up to heavyweight.
Nemkov won the title in August 2020 and successfully defended it four times before officially making the jump to heavyweight at February's PFL vs. Bellator event, where he defeated PFL's Bruno Cappelozza.
Anderson is one of the men who failed to wrestle the title from the grasp of Nemkov. In the pair's first meeting, Anderson was seemingly winning the fight when an accidental clash of heads in the third round opened a cut
over Nemkov's eye, ending the fight in a no contest five seconds before the end of the round. Had the fight ended after the completion of the third round, Anderson likely would have won a technical decision.
Anderson would get his rematch with Nemkov, but found little of the success he had the first time around, with Nemkov taking a clear unanimous decision.
The fights with Nemkov are the only times Anderson has entered the Bellator cage and left without having his hand raised, compiling a 4-1 record with three stoppage victories. In his most recent outing, Anderson took a split decision win over Phil Davis.
Moore will have the home cage advantage as he competes in front of his hometown Belfast fans. Moore has fought four times in Bellator, winning all four fights, with three wins coming by decision.
Moore last fought at Bellator 297, earning a decision win over Alex Polizzi. In the co-main event, the greatest fighter in Bellator history returns to the cage as Patricio Pitbull puts his featherweight championship on the line against Jeremy Kennedy.
Pitbull will be looking to pull out of a spiral that has seen him lose back-to-back fights for the first time in his accomplished professional career.
At Bellator 297, Pitbull, a former lightweight champion who is on his third stint as featherweight king, attempted to drop down to bantamweight to win a title in the third weight class of his career.
Instead, Pitbull was outworked and dominated by Sergio Pettis, who took a lopsided decision.
This past July, Pitbull made the fateful decision to take a fight with Chihiro Suzuki on extremely short notice in Japan's Rizin promotion.
Pitbull lost the fight by first-round knockout.
Pitbull was set to return to action at PFL vs. Bellator only to see both scheduled opponents fall out of the event with injuries.
Kennedy has plenty of big-fight experience, with a 3-1 record in the UFC and a stint in PFL. Since joining Bellator, Kennedy has gone 4-1, with a loss to Adam Borics as the lone blemish on his Bellator record.
Since dropping a decision to Borics, Kennedy has won three consecutive fights, with wins over Emmanuel Sanchez, Aaron Pico and Pedro Carvalho setting up his shot at the title.
The rest of the undercard features more intriguing matchups with a European flair. Fabian Edwards, brother of UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards, looks to take the next step toward gold when he takes on fast rising contender Aaron Jeffery at middleweight. Plus, Irish sensation James Gallagher is back in a featherweight bout against veteran Leandro Higo. And Lightweights open the main card when Tim Wilde takes on Manouel Sousa.
Bellator 302 Belfast Fight Card
Main Card
Corey Anderson vs. Karl Moore; For the vacant Bellator light heavyweight title
Patricio Pitbull vs. Jeremy Kennedy; For Pitbull's Bellator featherweight title
Fabian Edwards vs. Aaron Jeffery; Middleweight
James Gallagher vs. Leandro Higo; Featherweight
Tim Wilde vs. Manouel Sousa; Lightweight
Prelims
Ciaran Clarke vs. Darius Mafi; Bantamweight
Oscar Ownsworth vs. Alfie Davis; Lightweight
Luke Trainer vs. Grant Neal; Light heavyweight
Nathan Kelly vs. Vikas Singh Ruhil; Featherweight
Abraham Bably vs. Isaiah Pinson; Heavyweight
Nate Kalley vs. Jordan Elliot; Catchweight (130lbs)
When breaking down the level of competition, it's easy to see that Anderson has faced tougher competition than Moore, and has responded to that tough competition with many stoppage victories.
Moore will have a rabid local fanbase cheering him on, to be sure, but it shouldn't be expected that the adrenaline bump will carry him to victory over a fighter who we have every reason to believe is simply better and more dangerous.
Corey Anderson will fight Karl Moore for light heavyweight championship. Fabian Edwards will take on Aaron Jeffery in middleweights category.
Jeremy Kennedy will fight Patricio Pitbull in featherweight championship. James Gallagher will fight Leandro Higo in featherweights category. Manouel Sousa versus Tim Wilde fight will take place for lightweights category.
Other Bellator MMA bouts include Ciaran Clarke vs Darius Mafi, Nathan Kelly vs V. Singh Ruhil, Abraham Bably vs Isaiah Pinson, Luke Trainer vs Grant Neal, Alfie Davis vs O. Ownsworth, Nate Kelly vs Jordan Elliot.
Earlier in March, former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua stopped Francis Ngannou in the second round, dominating his matchup with the ex-UFC heavyweight champ. Joshua floored Ngannou in the first round and again in the second with right hands at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
He finished the fight with one punch immediately after the second 10-count, apparently knocking Ngannou out cold with an unblocked right hand.