Bellator officials announced that the eagerly anticipated matchup between welterweight standouts Andrey Koreshkov (22-3) and Lorenz Larkin (20-7, 1 NC) has been re-booked for Friday, October 4, when the promotion returns to Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif. for Bellator 229. The two were originally slated to headline Bellator 219 this past March, when an undisclosed injury to Larkin forced the bout to be delayed.
Tickets for the Bellator 229: Koreshkov vs. Larkin are on sale now and are available at the Pechanga box office, as well as Bellator.com, Ticketmaster.com and Pechanga.com.
The event will be broadcast live Friday, Oct. 4 on Paramount Network and DAZN at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT, while preliminary action will stream on Bellator.com, DAZN and globally on the Bellator Mobile App. Additional bouts will be announced in coming weeks.
Omsk, Russia’s Koreshkov will look to continue his winning ways at Pechanga, where he is unbeaten in his first two appearances at the Southern California venue. “The Spartan” will enter this bout as a 29-year-old competing for the 17th time inside the Bellator cage. After Larkin’s withdrawal from their previously scheduled bout this past March, Koreshkov took on a tough replacement in Mike Jasper at Bellator 219 and dominated him for three rounds on his way to a unanimous decision victory.
Since joining Bellator in 2012, Koreshkov has tallied 13 victories and earned the welterweight world title with a win over former division king Douglas Lima at Bellator 140. Training alongside former Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko, Koreshkov has earned 22 career wins over 25 bouts, including 15 finishes since making his professional debut in 2010.
Larkin joins this main event riding a two-fight winning streak over Ion Pascu at Bellator 207 and Fernando Gonzalez at Bellator 193. “Da Monsoon” joined Bellator in 2017, following victories over Jorge Masvidal and Neil Magny. The 32-year-old Millennia MMA product has competed against the sport’s elite across the light heavyweight, middleweight and welterweight divisions, squaring off against names the likes of “King Mo” Lawal, Douglas Lima, Paul Daley and Robbie Lawler.
Proudly hailing from Riverside, Calif., the SoCal native looks forward to competing at the nearby Pechanga Resort Casino with the home crowd in his corner. With 11 of his 20 career victories coming via knockout, the 32-year-old striker hopes to add yet another former champion to his list of victims when he takes on Koreshkov in Temecula.
