Sidney Outlaw took a risk staying on the Bellator 283 card when his lightweight title fight against Patricky Freire was canceled.
It’s safe to say that risk did not pay off. “Pitbull” Freire pulled out of the 155-pound title fight with an injury. But rather than wait for him to heal, Outlaw (16-5 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) remained on Friday’s card in Tacoma, Wash., in a co-main event slot against Tofiq Musayev (20-4 MMA, 1-0 BMMA).
Musayev, a former RIZIN lightweight champion, took Outlaw out with a 27-second knockout. Almost certainly, the loss put Outlaw’s title aspirations a lot deeper into the future. But the odds of a title bout for Musayev, who was making his Bellator debut, increased exponentially – especially considering he beat Freire at RIZIN 20 to win a single-night tournament.
“I would love to fight with ‘Pitbull’ back home in my home country of Azerbaijan. That would be cool,” Musayev said after his win over Outlaw. “Since ‘Pitbull’ is the one who wanted to have a rematch with me, I want to fight him. Of course, after every training camp, you improve your technique – you get better. I just think it’s going to be a more exciting fight.”
Their fight on New Year’s Eve 2019 was a unanimous decision win for Musayev and at the time was his 15th straight victory. But could Musayev really jump the lightweight line that much to get a title shot after just one Bellator win?
Also waiting in the wings is Usman Nurmagomedov (15-0 MMA, 4-0 BMMA), who submitted Chris Gonzalez (7-2 MMA, 6-2 BMMA) in the first round just before Musayev’s win over Outlaw. Musayev said he’s not interested in a fight with Nurmagomedov, but also doesn’t sound worried about making him take a backseat to him for a title shot.
“We have a good friendship with Usman. We respect him as a fighter, but he’s not in my plans to fight anytime soon,” Musayev said. “My plan is to fight with ‘Pitbull.’ I saw in one of his interviews that he wants the rematch, so let’s do it.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 283.
