Marloes Coenen vs. Julia Budd featherweight title fight set for Bellator 174 Bellator officials announced Monday that MMA pioneer Marloes Coenen will face fellow Strikeforce veteran Julia Budd for the inaugural 145-pound title at Bellator 174 on March 3rd. Coenen (23-7) fought just once in 2016, losing in a stunning upset to UFC vet Alexis Dufresne by first-round submission. It should be noted Dufresne was a short-notice opponent and missed weight by 4.7 pounds. The 35-year-old has gone 4-2 in her last six fights. Budd (9-2) has gone 3-0 since joining Bellator in 2015, and her two career losses are to Ronda Rousey and Amanda Nunes. This is the second time Bellator has attempted to put this matchup together. The first was slated for Bellator 155 in May 2016, but Budd suffered an injury on short notice. This will be the first time in Bellator history that a women’s fight will headline a card with the promotion. Alessio Di Chirico vs. Eric Spicely slated for UFC On FOX 23 Jim Edwards of FloCombat reported Monday that Alessio Di Chirico will face Eric Spicely in a middleweight affair at UFC on FOX 23 on January 28th. Di Chirico (10-1) has gone 1-1 with the UFC, earning a win over Garreth McLellan in his last fight and dropping his UFC debut to Bojan Velickovic back at UFC Fight Night Zagreb. Spicely (9-1) has also gone 1-1 with the promotion, losing his UFC debut to Sam Alvey and rebounding with an “Upset of the year” performance against Thiago Santos at UFC FIght Night 95 in Brazil. Spicely also competed on Season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter where he was eliminated by eventual winner Andrew Sanchez. UFC on FOX 23 will take place at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.
