HONOLULU – The pre-fight necessities are in the books for the second of two Bellator events this week, and all that’s left to do is fight.
The Bellator 279 fighters got face to face for the first and only time, officially at least, at Friday’s ceremonial weigh-ins. Included in that mix were headliners Cris Cyborg (25-2 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) and Arlene Blencowe (15-8 MMA, 8-4 BMMA), who fight for Cyborg’s women’s featherweight title.
A few quick words were exchanged, though seemingly nothing personal. Cyborg sported artistically-worked facepaint of the Brazilian flag.
The most intense faceoff was between co-main eventers Juan Archuleta (25-3 MMA, 7-2 BMMA) and Raufeon Stots (17-1 MMA, 5-0 BMMA), who compete in an interim bantamweight title fight that doubles as a grand prix quarterfinal. The other quarterfinalists competing Saturday, Patchy Mix (15-1 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) and Kyoji Horiguchi (29-4 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) had a lighter mood as the two flexed and shook hands.
Former women’s flyweight champion and Hawaii native Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (11-1 MMA, 10-1 BMMA) showed a sign of respect to opponent Justine Kish (7-5 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) when she presented her with a lei.
Saturday’s card at Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu is the second of back-to-back Bellator events in Hawaii’s capital city. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie. Check out all the faceoffs for Bellator 279 in the video above.
