Bellator 188 features title rematch between champ Patricio Freire, Daniel Weichel

Daniel Weichel nearly captured the Bellator featherweight title the first time he fought champion Patricio Friere. Now he’ll get a second chance.

Bellator today announced on Twitter a title rematch between “Pitbull” (26-4 MMA, 14-4 BMMA) and Weichel (39-9, 8-1 BMMA) to headline Bellator 188, which takes place Nov. 16 at Menora Mivtachim Arena Arena in Tel Aviv, Israel. The event’s main card airs live on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie.

It’s the Viacom-owned promotion’s second trip to Tel Aviv after a sellout show at Bellator 164, which featured Douglas Lima’s welterweight title-winning bout against Andrey Koreshkov.

Freire makes the first defense of his featherweight title in his second stint as Bellator champ. In his previous bout, he submitted Daniel Straus to win back the belt after a decision loss to Straus in 2015.

Prior to that fight, Freire took on Weichel at Bellator 138 and survived an early scare when he was knocked to the ground at the end of the first frame. Weichel came out to finish in the second and instead caught a punch that knocked him out.

Also confirmed for the event is a middleweight bout between vet John Salter (14-3 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) and Anatoly Tokov (25-2 MMA, 1-0 BMMA). Salter is on a four-fight streak with Bellator, most recently submitting Kendall Grove at Bellator 181, while Tokov beat Francisco France via TKO at Bellator 172.

For more on Bellator 188, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.