PhotoCred: IG - @crissunshinemma / Drake Riggs
Bout between AJ Agazarm and Cris ‘Sunshine’ Lencioni in the works
After continually being linked to one another for the past six months, Bellator featherweight prospects AJ Agazarm (3-1) and Cris “Sunshine” Lencioni (6-2) will get to settle their beef.
MyMMANews confirmed with sources on Friday that a bout between the two is in the works for an upcoming Bellator event date to be determined.
Next Friday, July 24, Bellator returns with their first event since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak which put the world on pause. That Bellator 242 event will be held live from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The upcoming lineup of future events is expected to take place here as well.
For Lencioni, he currently rides a two-fight winning streak with his last win coming via split decision against Salim Mukhidinov in February. The fight was the last on Lencioni’s contract.
Prior to that bout, Lencioni was booked to take on the promotional debutant and Glory kickboxing champion, Robin Van Roosmalen. However, Van Roosmalen would miss weight by nine pounds thus canceling the event. At that event that was UFC 232, “Sunshine” and Agazarm had a minor altercation. Ever since then, there has been interest in the matchup from the community.
A highly-touted BJJ blackbelt, Agazarm made his MMA debut in January 2019. Fighting exclusively for Bellator since then, he’s amassed a record of 3-1 with those three wins coming consecutively. His most recent time out came against his most experienced opponent yet in Adel Altamimi.
Squaring off at Bellator 238 in January, Agazarm and Altamimi went to war. In the end, Agazarm would secure his patented Agazarm choke to force the submission in round three. Immediately after the bout, Lencioni called out the victor and Agazarm expressed minimal interest.
“Did he win his last one?” Agazarm asked the media in response to Lencioni’s call out, “So you’re gonna put up his triangle vs. my triangle? The Agazarm vs. the Lencioni triangle? I guess. I don’t know. I like the striker, the karate guy, because it challenges me. I can go out there and grapple a grappler all day. But it’s like, I’d just stick to jiu-jitsu if I wanted to do that.”
The two have exchanged some words over social media ever since. Soon, their actions will get to do the talking.
