Weber Almeida vs. Josh Wright booked for Bellator 273 in Phoenix

Bellator featherweight Weber Almeida will draw promotional newcomer Josh Wright at Bellator 273 on Jan. 29, promotion officials told MMA Fighting.

The card will be headlined by a heavyweight title unification bout between champion Ryan Bader and interim titleholder Valentin Moldavsky and go down at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz.

Almeida, a karate specialist and teammate of Lyoto Machida, makes his return eight months after suffering his first MMA loss in a decision to Johnny Soto, dropping his professional record to 5-1. Almeida was 3-0 inside the Bellator cage with a trio of knockouts prior to the setback.

Wright, 6-3 as a pro, make this Bellator debut coming off a knockout victory over Anthony Curtiss in June 2021. He did compete under bare-knuckle boxing rules after that, losing via stoppage to Tom Shoaff in October.

Bellator 273 will air live on Showtime, and Almeida vs. Wright is expected be featured in the preliminary portion of the card. The main card also includes Ben Henderson vs. Islam Mamedov, Henry Corrales vs. Aiden Lee and Sabah Homasi vs. Jaleel Willis.