Davion Franklin - Bellator 295 - Credit: Lucas Noonan
Source: No. 9-ranked Davion Franklin to fight Slim Trabelsi at Bellator 300 in October
With a record four title fights already planned for their marquee Bellator 300 event in October, there will be a heavyweight showdown added to the card. A source confirmed to MyMMANews.com that No. 9-ranked heavyweight Davion Franklin will face undefeated prospect Slim Trabelsi on the Bellator 300 card. The source spoke on anonymity as the promotion has yet to announce the scheduled fight.
Franklin most recently fought another undefeated fighter when he defeated Kasim Aras by unanimous decision at Bellator 295 back in April this year. The win got Franklin back into the win column after he suffered the first loss of his professional career after reeling off five consecutive wins to start his professional career, all of which have come under the Bellator MMA promotion.
In his first five fights, Davion Franklin picked up three first-round finishes and quickly rose up through the heavyweight rankings. Even after taking the lone loss of his career to Marcelo Golm at Bellator 283, Franklin remained inside the division’s Top-10 rankings.
The fight against Franklin will be the promotional debut for Slim Trabelsi who signed with Bellator MMA after a dispute with the UFC and his management team. A back-and-forth public dispute between his management team at Dominance MMA and coach Fernand Lopez led to his UFC release before his scheduled debut against Parker Porter at UFC 280 last year, he was later signed to the Bellator MMA roster.
Lopez had previously stated he wasn’t going to allow Trabelsi out of his contract with ARES FC and would be filing an injunction upon the announcement of him joining the Bellator roster.
Inside the cage, Slim Trabelsi is 5-0 and has had all of his professional fights coming on the international stage, including the last two which came under the ARES FC promotion. In his most recent fight, Trabelsi picked up a second-r0und ground-and-pound TKO victory over Azamat Nuftillaev in September of last year.
Here is the Bellator 300 card as it currently stands, with five total fights having been announced and the Franklin vs Trabelsi matchup bringing a total of six known bouts on the card.
- Ryan Bader vs Linton Vassell (Heavyweight title fight)
- Cris Cyborg vs Cat Zingano (Women’s featherweight title fight)
- Usman Nurmagomedov vs Brent Primus (Lightweight title fight)
- Liz Carmouche vs Ilima-Lei Macfarlane
- Ilara Joanne vs Jena Bishop
- Davion Franklin vs Slim Trabelsi
