Bellator 290 will get Johnny Eblen vs. Anatoly Tokov title battle with Nemkov-Romero off

December 27, 2022 11:45 am ET

Bellator’s first occasion within the new yr has a brand new title battle to take the place of 1 that may head to the backburner.

The brand new Bellator 290 co-main occasion in February will likely be a middleweight title battle between champion Johnny Eblen (12-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) and challenger Anatoly Tokov (31-3 MMA, 7-0 BMMA), a teammate of Fedor Emelianenko, who challenges Ryan Bader for the heavyweight title within the headliner. Bellator officers introduced the brand new battle Tuesday.

The middleweight title bout takes the place of the initially introduced co-main occasion between gentle heavyweight champ Vadim Nemkov (16-2 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) and Yoel Romero (15-6 MMA, 2-1 BMMA), which officers stated in a information launch is “unable to happen as scheduled.”

Bellator 290 takes place Feb. 4 on the Kia Discussion board in Inglewood, Calif., simply exterior Los Angeles. For the primary time in promotion historical past, the principle card will air on CBS in a nationally televised prime time broadcast. The cardboard additionally will stream on Paramount+. Prelims will stream on MMA Junkie.

Eblen received the middleweight title at Bellator 282 in June when he dominated Gegard Mousasi on the scorecards for a 50-45 unanimous resolution sweep. The wrestling standout beat John Salter in March to place himself in place for a title shot.

Tokov beat Muhammad Abdullah with a first-round TKO at Bellator 282 for his seventh straight win, all below the Bellator banner. In October 2021, Tokov returned after a two-year layoff and took a cut up resolution from Sharaf Davlatmurodov.

With the change, the Bellator 290 lineup now consists of:

MAIN CARD (CBS, 9 p.m. ET)