Bellator 180 takes place on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York City and will be headlined by a title fight as Phil Davis defends the Bellator light heavyweight title against Ryan Bader in a rematch of their matchup that took place in 2015 in the UFC.
In the co-main event of the main card on Spike, rising featherweight prospect James Gallagher will have the toughest test of his career as he meets Chinzo Machida. Also on the televised portion of Bellator 180, Neiman Gracie looks to remain undefeated when he meets Dave Marfone and Heather Hardy makes her professional mixed martial arts debut against Alice Yauger.
Now let’s take a closer look at the four fights that will take place on the main card of Bellator 180.
Phil Davis (17-3, 1 NC) vs. Ryan Bader (22-5)
Phil Davis became the Bellator light heavyweight champion in November with a decision victory over Liam McGeary and this will be his first title defense. He enters this fight on a four fight winning streak and his last defeat came against Bader by split decision at UFC on FOX 14.
- Currently tied for 5th most wins in Bellator light heavyweight division history.
- 8th longest average fight time (12:59) and 10th most total fight time (2:48:47) in UFC light heavyweight division history.
- Best significant strike defense (72.3%) in UFC light heavyweight division history – Minimum 5 UFC fights and 350 strike attempts by opponents.
- Best Strikes Absorbed per Minute (1.33) in UFC light heavyweight division history.
- Tied with Matt Hamill for the 6th most takedowns landed (31) in UFC light heavyweight division history.
Ryan Bader recently signed with Bellator and enters the promotion following back to back victories in the UFC. His most recent win came in November at UFC Fight Night 100 as he defeated Antonio Rogerio Nogueira by TKO in the third round.
- 4th most total fight time (3:24:41) in UFC light heavyweight division history.
- 6th most knockdowns landed (7) in UFC light heavyweight division history.
- 3rd best Strikes Absorbed per Minute (1.39) in UFC light heavyweight division history.
- 2nd most takedowns landed (46) in UFC light heavyweight division history.
- 6th best takedown defense (80.6%) in UFC light heavyweight division history – Minimum 5 UFC fights and 20 takedown attempts by opponents.
James Gallagher (6-0) vs. Chinzo Machida (5-2)
James Gallagher made his Bellator debut eleven months ago at Bellator 158 and scored a decision victory against Mike Cutting. Since that fight, he has won back to back fights by rear-naked choke submission and his most recent win came in February against Kirill Medvedovsky at Bellator 173.
- Tied with multiple fighters for the 3rd most submission wins in Bellator featherweight division history.
- Four of his six wins have come in the opening round by submission.
- All of his submission wins (5) have come by rear-naked or guillotine choke.
Chinzo Machida won his Bellator debut last year against Mario Navarro at Bellator 160 and both of his wins in the promotion have come by TKO/KO. Three of his seven fights have ended in the opening round and he is coming off a knockout victory against Jamar Ocampo at Bellator 170.
- After starting his career 1-2, he has won four in a row.
- Four of his five wins have come by TKO/KO.
Neiman Gracie (5-0) vs. Dave Marfone (5-2)
Neiman Gracie made his mixed martial arts debut in 2013 at World Series of Fighting 5 and made his Bellator debut in 2015. Two of his three wins in Bellator have come by submission and is coming off an armbar submission victory against Rudy Bears at Bellator 163.
- Four of his five wins have come by submission and three of those wins have come in the opening round.
- Both of his submission wins in Bellator have come in the first round.
Bellator 180 will mark the promotional debut of Dave Marfone and he enters this fight following a TKO defeat against Stephen Regman at CFFC 63. That defeat snapped a two fight winning streak and both of his defeats have come by TKO.
- Four of his five wins have come by stoppage in the opening round.
- His only submission win came in 2015 at CFFC 52 as he used a rear-naked choke to defeat Justin Bonitatis.
Heather Hardy (0-0) vs. Alice Yauger (4-5)
Heather Hardy was initially scheduled to make her professional mixed martial arts debut earlier this year in Invicta, but that fight was scratched when her opponent pulled out of the fight. She is a Brooklyn native and is known in the boxing world as she is the current WBC international female featherweight champion.
- She is 20-0, 1NC in boxing and she recently defeated Edina Kiss by unanimous decision to retain the WBC international female featherweight champion.
- Four of her wins in boxing have come by knockout.
Alice Yauger made her Bellator debut earlier this year at Bellator 171 and lost a decision against Jessica Middleton. The defeat snapped a two fight winning streak and she is 3-2 in her last five fights.
- Her only stoppage victory came in 2015 as she defeated Colby Fletcher by TKO in the opening round at XFL: Rage on the River 7.
- Eight of her nine fights have made it to the third round.
The complete Bellator 180: Davis vs. Bader fight card is below.
Main Card (Spike – 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)
Phil Davis (17-3, 1 NC) vs. Ryan Bader (22-5)
James Gallagher (6-0) vs. Chinzo Machida (5-2)
Neiman Gracie (5-0) vs. Dave Marfone (5-2)
Heather Hardy (Debut) vs. Alice Yauger (4-5)
Preliminary Card (Bellator.com – 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT)
Ryan Couture (10-5) vs. Haim Gozali (7-3)
Jerome Mickle (2-1) vs. Anthony Giacchina (1-1)
John Salgado (4-7-1) vs. Hugh McKenna (0-1)
Matt Rizzo (9-2, 1 NC) vs. Sergio da Silva (6-8)
Nate Grebb (3-1) vs. Bradley Desir (9-5)