The Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix is official with the four fights making up the tournament announced on Monday.
The first fight in the tournament will kick off on Sept. 29 as former champion Douglas Lima gets back in action against Andrey Koreshkov.
The remaining fights in the tournament will take place on separates dates with the entire Grand Prix tournament streaming exclusively on DAZN, the new broadcast partner of Bellator MMA alongside the Paramount Network.
A long simmering feud between two of England’s top welterweights will also take place in the first round as Paul Daley takes on Michael ‘Venom’ Page.
The winner of Lima vs. Koreshkov will then face the winner of Daley vs. Page.
On the other side of the bracket, Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald will take on former UFC title challenger Jon Fitch in an opening round matchup with the title on the line.
Meanwhile, Neiman Gracie will face off with former NCAA champion wrestler turned fighter Ed Ruth as he continues his new career as a welterweight.
The winners of MacDonald vs. Fitch and Gracie vs. Ruth will then meet in the semifinals of the tournament.
All of the fights in the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix will be five rounds with the title on the line in each of the matchups where the champion is competing. At the end of the tournament, the man left standing will be the Bellator welterweight champion.
One more fight will take place as an alternate bout as Lorenz Larkin takes on Yaroslav Amosov with the winner then ready to jump into the tournament should anybody get injured or be unable to continue.
Now this tournament will likely play out over a wide stretch of time considering MacDonald is about to move up to middleweight for a showdown with champion Gegard Mousasi on the same Sept. 29 card where the Welterweight Grand Prix kicks off.
