Bellator 290: Bader vs. Fedor 2 is a mixed martial arts event produced by Bellator MMA that will take place on February 4, 2023, at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, United States.
Fight Card
Main Card (CBS/Paramount+)
Heavyweight Ryan Bader (c) vs. Fedor Emelianenko Heavyweight Championship
Middleweight Johnny Eblen (c) vs. Anatoly Tokov Middleweight Championship
Welterweight Sabah Homasi vs. Brennan Ward
Preliminary Card (Youtube/Pluto TV)
Women's Flyweight Denise Kielholtz vs. Ilara Joanne
Featherweight Cody Law vs. Cris Lencioni
Welterweight Kyle Crutchmer vs. Jaleel Willis
Featherweight Kai Kamaka III vs. Kevin Boehm
Welterweight Mark Lemminger vs. Michael Lombardo
Middleweight Pat Downey vs. Christian Echols
Bantamweight Cass Bell vs. Jared Scoggins
Women's Flyweight Randi Field vs. Kristina Katsikis
Featherweight Lucas Brennan vs. Dre Miley
Background
The card will air live on CBS and Paramount Plus, the first time the promotion has aired live on the network and the first time MMA has been broadcast live on CBS since 2010.
The main event of the Bellator 290 will be MMA legend and former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko's last fight before his retirement. Emelianenko will challenge Bellator Heavyweight champion Ryan Bader (also former Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion and The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir light heavyweight winner) for the title. The event will be shown live on CBS and Paramount Plus, marking the first time the promotion has done so and the first time MMA has been broadcast live on the network since 2010.
The fight, which will be the first event of 2023 for the promotion, is a rematch of their January 2019 encounter in which Bader defeated his opponent by TKO in the first round to win the Bellator Heavyweight World Championship.
A Bellator Light Heavyweight World Championship bout between current champion Vadim Nemkov (also the Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix Champion) and former UFC Middleweight title contender Yoel Romero was expected to take place at the event. However, Nemkov withdrew for undisclosed reasons and the bout was cancelled.
A Bellator Middleweight World Championship bout between current champion Johnny Eblen and Anatoly Tokov will serve as the new co-main event.
Neiman Gracie and Michael Lombardo were scheduled to face each other at this event. However, Two weeks before the event, Lombardo was forced to withdraw from the bout and he was replaced by Dante Schiro.