Jared Downing replaces Rob Emerson, meets Patricio 'Pitbull' at Bellator 97

After nearly three years away from the promotion, featherweight Jared Downing (9-2 MMA, 2-0 BFC) returns to the Bellator MMA cage to face Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (17-2 MMA, 5-2 BFC) at Bellator 97.

Bellator officials recently announced the switch, which sees Downing step in for an injured Rob Emerson.

Bellator 97 takes place July 31 at Albuquerque’s Santa Ana Center. The evening’s five-fight main card, which includes the new Downing vs. Freire bout, airs on Spike TV. The preliminary card streams on Spike.com.

“It takes a ton of heart to accept a fight less than 20 days out, especially when you have to step in the cage with one of the most dangerous men in the world in ‘Pitbull,’” Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney stated. “Jared is a guy we’ve had our eye on for a while, and win or lose, he’ll make a great addition to our featherweight ranks.”

Two of Downing’s first five professional fights took place in the Bellator cage, where “Demon Eyes” earned wins over Danny Tims and Chad Vandenberg. Most recently, he completed a four-fight stint under the Resurrection Fighting Alliance banner, including a hard-fought split-decision loss to Lance Palmer in June, when he lost that company’s featherweight title.

Meanwhile, Freire looks to rebound from a recent split-decision loss to Bellator champ Pat Curran in a failed bid for the title. That and a split-decision loss to former champ Joe Warren remain the only losses of Freire’s career.

With the change to the card, the Bellator 97 lineup now includes:

MAIN CARD (Spike TV, 7 p.m. ET)

• Champ Michael Chandler vs. David Rickels – for lightweight title
• Champ Ben Askren vs. Andrey Koreshkov – for welterweight title
• Muhammed Lawal vs. Jacob Noe – Summer Series light-heavyweight tourney final
• Ryan Martinez vs. Vitaly Minakov – Summer Series heavyweight tourney final
• Jared Downing vs. Patricio Freire

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, 6 p.m. ET)

• Will Brooks vs. Cris Leyva
• Rodrigo Lima vs. Rafael Silva – bantamweight tournament semifinal
• Frank Baca vs. Anthony Leone – bantamweight tournament semifinal
• Mike Barreras vs. Bubba Jenkins
• Richard Jacquez vs. Javier Palacios
• Keith Berry vs. Jeremy Kimball
• Felipe Chavez vs. Adrian Cruz
• Shawn Bunch vs. Steve Garcia
• Donald Sanchez vs. Cliff Wright

For the latest on Bellator 97, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Jared Downing)