Middleweight prospect Ed Ruth announced as late addition to Friday's Bellator 168

Ed Ruth will take his second professional MMA contest just five weeks after his successful debut in the sport.

Bellator officials today announced that Ruth (1-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) will face Italian middleweight Emanuele Palombi (5-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) at Friday’s Bellator 168 event, which takes place at Mandela Forum in Florence, Italy, and airs live on Spike.

The 26-year-old Ruth was a three-time NCAA national champion while wrestling at Penn State and signed with Bellator prior to his professional debut. He first stepped in the cage at November’s Bellator 163 event, scoring a first-round TKO of Dustin Collins-Miles.

Meanwhile, Palombi makes his Bellator debut on the strength of a three-fight winning streak that includes three first-round stoppages. After losing his professional debut, Palombi has gone 5-1 in his past six outings.

With the addition to the card, Bellator 168 now includes:

• Alessio Sakara vs. Joey Beltran
• Philipe Lins vs. Kleber Raimundo Silva
• Claudio Annicchiarico vs. John Salter
• Valeriu Mircea vs. Goiti Yamauchi
• Emanuele Palombi vs. Ed Ruth

For more on Bellator 168, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.