A light heavyweight fight between former Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Liam McGeary and Chris Fields has been announced as the main event of Bellator 173.
Brett Okamoto of ESPN announced the news.
McGeary (11-1 MMA, 8-1 BMMA) was unstoppable in his first eight Bellator appearances, winning them all, and finishing seven of them. The only fight that the Englishman didn’t manage to finish was a victory over Emmanuel Newton at Bellator 134 in February of 2015. The 34-year-old won the Bellator Light Heavyweight title in that fight, and went on to defend it once, with a submission victory over Tito Ortiz, before losing the belt in his only 2016 appearance. Various injuries kept McGeary out for the vast majority of 2016, but he did fight in November, where he lost his light heavyweight crown to Phil Davis via decision.
Fields (11-7-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) is a staple of Irish MMA, and one of the most well known fighters on the regional scene. “The Housewives Choice” has fought on both Cage Warriors and BAMMA, which are considered the two biggest shows in Europe. Fields is coming off a submission victory over Dan Konecke, but hasn’t fought since February of 2016. Both Andy DeVent and Andy Clamp pulled out against Fields prior to BAMMA 24, which left him to face late replacement Konecke. He was scheduled to compete at both BAMMA 26 and BAMMA 27, but both times pull outs stopped him from fighting.
Bellator 173 will be co-promoted, along with BAMMA. The two organizations also co-promoted an event on Dec. 16 in Dublin. Hot prospect James Gallagher will also feature on this card, confirmed Scott Coker.
