Dudu Dantas defends bantamweight belt against Caldwell at Bellator 184

Dantas will face Caldwell at Bellator 184. (Photo: Disclosure / Bellator)

Brazilian Dudu Dantes already has a date to put his bantamweight belt on the line. He faces Darrion Caldwell in the main fight of Bellator 184, which takes place on October 6, in Oklahoma (USA). This duel was scheduled to take place in April this year, but the challenger was injured and was replaced by Leandro Higo. The fight, however, did not have a belt at stake, as the challenger Higo did not reach the weight limit for the category.

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This will be Dudu's second belt defense. After regaining the belt by defeating compatriot Marcos ”Loro” Galvão by unanimous decision at Bellator 156, in June last year, he had a rematch against former champion Joe Warren, at Bellator 166, last December, and won by majority decision, remaining with the strap. The Rio native had become division champion for the first time in 2012, when he submitted former UFC fighter Zach Makovsky. He made two title defenses, but was dethroned by Warren himself, his last victim, at Bellator 128, in 2014.

Darrion Caldwell, in turn, will fight for the belt for the first time. The main revelation in the bantamweight division, the American qualified himself as a challenger by defeating Joe Taimanglo by unanimous decision at Bellator 167, in December 2016, recovering from the defeat he suffered against Taimanglo himself, which occurred in July of the same year. In total, there are eight duels held in the company, with seven triumphs and only one setback.