‘Pitbull’ Freire vs. John Teixeira, Brennan Ward vs. ‘Cyborg’ Santos added to Bellator 153

Two bouts have been added to the main card of Bellator 153 on April 22.

Former featherweight champion Patricio Freire faces fellow Brazilian John Teixeira in the co-main event, while longtime MMA veteran Evangelista Santos makes his promotional debut against Brennan Ward.

Bellator 153 takes place at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville and features the Bellator debut of former UFC lightweight champion Ben Henderson versus 170-pound champion Andrey Koreshkov.

Freire (24-3) looks to get back on track after losing his belt to Daniel Straus in November, snapping a seven-fight winning streak. Teixeira (20-1-2), on the other hand, enters the biggest fight of his career riding an eight-fight undefeated run.

Santos (20-16) signed with Bellator after scoring a win over Artenas Young at Legacy FC 50. "Cyborg" finished 17 of his 20 professional victories, 12 by way of knockout. Ward (13-3), a former middleweight title contender, is 3-0 with three finishes as welterweight in Bellator, and recently beat Ken Hasegawa at Rizin.

The preliminary portion of the card features Sam Watford vs. Dean Hancock, Chris Foster vs. Felipe Lavandoski, Jason Bakanowski vs. T.J. Hepburn and Pete Rogers vs. Mike Mangan.