Eduardo Dantas vs. Darrion Caldwell 135 title fight headlines Bellator 177 in Budapest

Bellator is returning to Hungary this spring, and the bantamweight title will be on the line in Budapest.

Bellator 177 is set for april 14 at Budapest Sports Arena. In the main event, bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas (19-4 MMA, 9-1 BMMA) is set to take on challenger Darrion Caldwell (10-1 MMA, 7-1 BMMA).

In addition, the card will feature a featherweight fight between Hungary’s Adam Borics (5-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) and Anthony Taylor (1-2 MMA, 1-2 BMMA).

Promotion officials announced the card and headliner today. The main card will air on Spike at 9 p.m. ET. Immediately following the MMA card, Bellator Kickboxing 6 will air on Spike at 11 p.m. ET, headlined by a welterweight title rematch between Zoltan Laszak and Karim Ghajji.

Dantas won Bellator’s bantamweight title in 2012 with a submission of Zach Makovsky. He defended it against Marcos Galvao and Anthony Leone before dropping the belt by unanimous decision to Jore Warren at Bellator 128. But he rebounded with a decision win over Mike Richman, then beat Galvao to get the title back this past June. In December, he beat Warren by majority decision to retain the belt.

Darrion Caldwell

New Jersey’s Caldwell, a 2009 NCAA wrestling champion, will fight for a title for the first time. He started his career a perfect 9-0, including six straight wins under the Bellator banner. In March 2016, he choked Warren unconscious in the first round. After a third-round submission loss to Joe Taianglo, the first setback of his career, he bounced back in December by taking a unanimous decision from Taimanglo in a rematch at Bellator 167.

For more on Bellator 177, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.