Johnny Eblen to defend middleweight title against Anatoly Tokov at Bellator 290 with Vadim Nemkov vs. Yoel Romero off

Bellator 290 has replaced one title fight for another.

On Tuesday, Bellator announced that Johnny Eblen would defend his middleweight title against Anatoly Tokov in the co-main event of Bellator 290 on Feb. 4 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California. The fight will replace the original co-main event which was Vadim Nemkov defending his light heavyweight title against Yoel Romero, but that fight is off, according to the promotion.

Nemkov defended his title last time out with a decision win over Corey Anderson after the two fought to a No Contest earlier this year. Romero, meanwhile, had earned the title after back-to-back third round knockout wins over Melvin Manhoef and Alex Polizzi.

Johnny Eblen (12-0) became Bellator’s middleweight champion with a decision win over Gegard Mousasi at Bellator 282 in June. The win improved his Bellator record to 8-0 as he has been with the promotion since 2019. During his Bellator tenure, he has notable wins over John Salter, Collin Huckbody, Taylor Johnson, and Daniel Madrid among others.

Anatoly Tokov (31-3) is the former ACB middleweight champion and has been with Bellator since 2018 going 7-0. In his career, the Russian has also competed in RIZIN but last time out, he scored a first-round TKO win over Muhammad Abdullah on the same card Eblen became the new champ. In his Bellator career, Tokov holds notable wins over Gerald Harris, Alexander Shlemenko, Sharaf Davlatmurodov, and Vladimir Filipovic among others.

With Eblen vs. Tokov now on and Nemkov vs. Romero off, Bellator 290 is as follows: