Rafael Carvalho looks to defend his Bellator middleweight title against Melvin Manhoef May 20 at Bellator 155 in Boise, Idaho.
The 29-year-old Brazilian is 12-1 in professional action, most recently snatching the Bellator title from Brandon Halsey at Bellator 144 with a devastating body kick knockout. His lone loss came in his professional debut, a submission defeat to Julio Cesar Araujo Fernandes in December 2011.
Manhoef, on the other hand, has seen varying levels of success recently. The devastating striker knocked out Hisaki Kato at Bellator 146 in his last outing, but he was finished via strikes in his the two contests prior, losing to Joe Schilling and Alexander Shlemenko in back-to-back bouts. The Shlemenko loss was overturned after the Russian fighter tested positive for anabolic steroids, but Manhoef was originally knocked out in the fight's second frame.
Manhoef is still expected to headline Bellator Kickboxing's debut on April 16 against Alexandru Negrea.
Joining this Carvalho vs. Manhoef main-event title fight on the Bellator 155 card is a co-main event featherweight showdown between former Bellator 145-pound champ Pat Curran and former World Series of Fighting featherweight champ Georgi Karakhanyan.
Curran (21-7) is 1-2 in his last three, most recently defeating Emmanuel Sanchez via decision at Bellator 139.
Karakhanyan (24-5-1) is also 1-2 in his last three, most recently dropping a decision to Daniel Weichel at Bellator 147.