Lorenz Larkin had received a new opponent at the upcoming Bellator 207. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Larkin’s original opponent, Erick Silva, had to pull out of their scheduled welterweight bout at this show.
Larkin told MMA Fighting on Tuesday that Ion Pascu has stepped in as Silva’s replacement. The winner of this fight will become an alternate for the eight-man welterweight grand prix.
After winning four of his last five fights in the UFC, Larkin decided to test out the free agent market and ended up signing with Bellator. He would take on then-champion Douglas Lima at a Madison Square Garden show in New York in June of last year that saw him lose the fight unanimous decision. He would be defeated by Paul Daley by second-round KO three months later at Bellator 183. Larkin is looking to continue his winning ways as he’s fresh off his first win under the Bellator MMA banner as he scored a decision win over Fernando Gonzalez at Bellator 193 in January.
On the flip side, Pascu holds a pro-MMA record of 18-8 and is fresh off a win over Alex Lohore by unanimous decision.
Bellator 207 is set to take place on Friday, October 12, 2018 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The preliminary card will air online at 7:00 pm EST while the main card will air on Paramount Network at 9:00 PM EST. Matt Mitrione vs. Ryan Bader in a Bellator heavyweight grand prix semifinal is set to headline this show while Sergei Kharitonov vs. Roy Nelson in a heavyweight bout will be the co-main event. Here is the updated card:
MAIN CARD (Paramount, DAZN, 9 p.m. ET)
Matt Mitrione vs. Ryan Bader – Bellator heavyweight grand prix semifinal
Sergei Kharitonov vs. Roy Nelson
Corey Browning vs. Kevin Ferguson Jr.
Lorenz Larkin vs. Ion Pascu
PRELIMINARY CARD (Online, 7 p.m. ET)
Andre Fialho vs. Javier Torres
Alexandra Ballou vs. Lisa Blaine
Nicholas Giulietti vs. Alex Ortiz
Peter Barrett vs. Blair Tugman
Tim Caron vs. Reginaldo Felix
Janay Harding vs. Sinead Kavanagh
Pat Casey vs. Kastriot Xhema
Mike Kimbel vs. Alex Potts
Kemran Lachinov vs. Sean Lally