Keri Melendez Injured, Fight Pulled From Bellator 180
Keri Melendez has suffered an undisclosed injury and her fight against Sadee Monserrate Williams has been pulled from this months Bellator 180 card.
With so little time to fight an appropriate replacement opponent for Williams, the promotion opted to simply pull her from the card.
The fight between Melendez and Williams was set to kick off the Spike TV portion of the preliminary card.
Another women’s fight is going to be taking the now canceled fight in its place and that fight is the professional MMA debut of boxer Heather Hardy, who is facing Alice Yauger.
Hardy (0-0-0) is going to be making her previously mentioned professional MMA debut, with no amateur experience to speak of as well. Hardy has a 20-0-0-1NC record as a professional boxer, with all of her fights taking place in the state of New York. Hardy was originally set to make her professional MMA debut at Invicta FC 21, but her fight got canceled when her opponent suffered a concussion during training.
Yauger (4-5-0) is currently winless under the Bellator MMA banner, having dropped a fight to Jessica Middleton at Bellator 171. Yauger is also a longtime veteran of the Xtreme Knockout promotion, where she earned wins over Kathina Catron and Roxanne Ceasear. Yauger has seen seven of her nine fights as a pro go the distance, it has been nearly two years since one of her fights didn’t go all three rounds.
Bellator 180 takes place on Saturday, June 24 from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York with Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
