Silva Injured, Leone gets Bellator 111 Title Bout vs.Dantas
Bellator MMA has announced that due to a knee injury Rafael Silva (21-3) has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled Bellator 111 main event shot at dethrone reigning Bantamweight title holder Eduardo Dantas (15-3).
Replacing the injured Silva will be Anthony Leone (13-6) who lost a unanimous decision to Silva in the 2013 Summer Series finals at Bellator 102. For Leone the loss ended a 4 fight winning streak in which he claim victories over Paul Gorman (SUB), Claudio Ledesma (SD), Zach Makovsky (SD), and Frank Baca (SUB).
Dantas is 5-0 in Bellator and 8-1 in his last 9 fights. After a KO loss to Tyson Nam in the Shooto promotion, Dantas returned to Bellator successfully defending the Bantamweight title by knocking out Marcos Galvao.
Before this title opportunity was given to Leone, season 9 tournament winner Joe Warren who is scheduled for a title shot at Bellator 118 was offered the fight and turned it down, saying he was still recovering from his own knee injury; but was on track to be ready for May 2.
Bellator 111 will be on March 7, at the Windstar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma.