Lorenz Larkin

By FCF Staff

Just days removed from the news that Lorenz Larkin has signed with Bellator, the company’s announced he’ll face welterweight champ Douglas Lima in his promotional debut.

The fight will be part of Bellator “NYC”, which will take place on June 24th at Madison Square Garden. In addition, Bellator has announced that lightweight champ Michael Chandler (16-3) will face Brent Primus (7-0) at the event, which will feature Chael Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva and Fedor Emelianenko vs. Matt Mitrione.

Larkin (18-5) closed out his UFC contract last summer with a stoppage win over Neil Magny. Lima (28-6) reclaimed the welterweight title in November by knocking out Andrey Koreshkov. The latter earned a decision win over Lima in 2015 to end his first reign as champ.

“As a fight promoter, my goal is to put together the biggest cards possible for our fans around the world,” Bellator President Scott Coker said in a press release to announce the upcoming card.  “Bringing an event of this magnitude to a city and arena like New York and Madison Square Garden has been something Bellator, Spike and Viacom have wanted to make happen for quite some time. On June 24, the goal becomes reality, when we put on the biggest event in promotional history, Bellator NYC.”

Bellator NYC will be a pay-per-view event, but Bellator 180 will take place before the PPV portion of the card, and will air on Spike.