With six straight wins and following a clean sweep of his season five competition, Nova Uniao product Eduardo Dantas (13-2) will face reigning Bellator bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky (14-2) for the 135 pound title at Bellator 65 on April 13 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
Bellator confirmed the details via press release on Friday.
Dantas’ season five tournament wins included a knockout of Wilson Reis at Bellator 51 in September, followed by a a split decision win over Ed West at Bellator 55 in October, and he capped it off with a unanimous decision win over Olympian Alexis Vila at Bellator 59 in November.
Dantas commented on getting his shot at Bellator gold:
“I’m here at Bellator to win the Bantamweight Championship. I plan to not only win the title, but to keep it for many years to come.”
Makovsky has won his last eight fights in a row. Since winning the Bellator bantamweight title in October 2010, Makovsky has competed in two non-title bouts while waiting for a contender to emerge.
He knocked out Chad Robichaux at Bellator 41 in April of last year, and returned in October with a submission win over Ryan Roberts.
Makovsky commented on the upcoming title fight:
“I want to dominate everyone I compete against, but at the same time, I don’t feel like I have to make any kind of statement. I just want to continue getting better and do the best I can every time I enter the cage. I don’t pay attention to the rankings because I feel like that’s going to put extra pressure on me. I just look forward to defending my belt on April 13.”
Bellator 65 will also feature the return of Bellator’s inaugural welterweight champion Lyman Good (11-2), who has been on the sidelines for nearly a year. Good will square off against Virginia’s LeVon Maynard (12-8) who is 1-2 in his previous Bellator outings.
Bellator 65 will also host the promotion’s season six middleweight tournament semifinals featuring Maiquel Falcao, Brian Rogers, Giva Santana and Vitor Vianna.