The former champion faces Jessy Miele (9-3) in the co-main event of Bellator 244 on Aug. 21 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. A heavyweight bout between Roy Nelson (23-18) and Valentin Moldavsky (9-1) has also been added to the main card, per an official Bellator release.
Budd (13-3) held Bellator’s featherweight title from March 2017 to January 2020, successfully defending it three times against Olga Rubin, Talita Nogueira, and Arlene Blencowe. In the main event of Bellator 238, the Canadian fought Cris Cyborg and dropped her belt to the former UFC champion after losing via fourth-round TKO.
It was Budd’s first loss in almost nine years. Her only other losses came against future UFC champions Ronda Rousey and Amanda Nunes.
Miele has won four straight fights, most recently earning a split nod over Nogueira at Bellator 231 last October. She was scheduled to fight Leslie Smith at Bellator 241 in March, but that event was cancelled in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Nelson seeks his first win since September 2017, a unanimous decision win over Javy Ayala at Bellator 183. “Big Country” has lost four straight fights, falling to Frank Mir, Mirko Cro Cop, Sergei Kharitonov, and Matt Mitrione.
Moldavsky is undefeated since joining Bellator in 2017. He is 4-0 for the promotion, most recently defeating Ayala by unanimous decision at Bellator 239 in February.
Bellator 244 will be headlined by light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader defending his title against Vadim Nemkov. The event will be broadcast on Paramount Network and the DAZN streaming service, with the preliminaries available on Bellator’s YouTube channel.
See the updated Bellator 244 card below:
Main Card (Paramount Network, DAZN, 10 p.m. ET)
Ryan Bader vs. Vadim Nemkov
Julia Budd vs. Jessy Miele
Roy Nelson vs. Valentin Moldavsky
Preliminaries (Bellator YouTube, TBD)
John Salter vs. Andrew Kapel
Adam Piccolotti vs. Sidney Outlaw
Erik Perez vs. Josh Hill
Lucas Brennan vs. Will Smith
Vladimir Tokov vs. Chris Gonzalez
Lance Gibson Jr. vs. Shane Kruchten
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