UFC vet Niklas Backstrom meets Brian Moore under BAMMA banner at Bellator 169 in Dublin

Niklas Backstrom

Bellator’s December debut in Ireland, a co-promotion, has a pair of new BAMMA bouts set for the lineup.

UFC veteran Niklas Backstrom (10-2) will take on Ireland’s own Brian Moore (9-4) in a featherweight fight, and Ireland’s Kiefer Crosbie (1-0) will meet England’s Conor Riordan (0-0) at welterweight. Both fights will be part of BAMMA 27, which is happening on the same bill as Bellator 169.

Bellator 169, the joint venture with BAMMA 27, takes place Dec. 16 at 3Arena in Dublin. The main card airs on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie. In the main event, Muhammed Lawal meets Satoshi Ishii in a heavyweight fight.

Backstrom, from Sweden, fought three times for the UFC, going 1-2 before being released. In his promotional debut, he won a fight-night bonus for a first-round submission of Tom Niinimaki in Berlin at UFC Fight Night 41. But then he suffered a knockout loss to Mike Wilkinson and a decision setback to Noad Lahat. In the past year, he has gotten back on track with a pair of submission wins in Europe.

Moore, a teammate of UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor at SBG Ireland, has won back-to-back fights, as well. After a pair of losses under the Cage Warriors banner in 2013 and 2014, he rebounded with a submission of Tommy McCafferty, then a TKO of Mick Brennan at BAMMA 24 in February.

The latest Bellator 169 card now includes:

• Satoshi Ishii vs. Muhammed Lawal
• James Gallagher vs. TBA
• Paul Redmond vs. Daniel Weichel
• Champ Tom Duquesnoy vs. Alan Philpott – for BAMMA bantamweight title
• Ronnie Mann vs. Martin Stapleton – for BAMMA vacant featherweight title
• Sean Tobin vs. Dylan Tuke – BAMMA 27 bout
• Niklas Backstrom vs. Brian Moore – BAMMA 27 bout
• Kiefer Crosbie vs. Conor Riordan – BAMMA 27 bout

For more on Bellator 169, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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