A battle of heavy hitters will take center stage in Bellator's debut in Italy.
Italian veteran Alessio Sakara will meet Brian Rogers in the main event of a an April 16 event in Turin, Italy, which will be co-promoted with local promoter Oktagon Kickboxing. Bellator announced the light heavyweight bout on Friday.
Sakara (17-11, 2 NC) competed in the UFC from 2005-13 and will make his Bellator debut with the bout. He's coming off a first-round TKO Dib Akil in Austria on Sept. 18.
Rogers (12-8) is a Bellator mainstay who is now in his fifth year with the promotion. He's 2-2 in in his past four, with a submission win over Virgil Zwicker on Dec. 4 in his last bout. Rogers has finishes in 11 of his 12 career wins.
Also announced for the event was the next fight for highly touted prospect A.J. McKee (3-0), as he meets Italy's Danilo Belluardo (5-1); veteran Melvin Manhoef will compete in a kickboxing match against an opponent to be determined.