Tofiq Musayev loses opponent for Bellator 278 debut, out of Hawaii card

Tofiq Musayev will have to wait longer to make his Bellator debut.

MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck confirmed with multiple people with knowledge of the situation that Musayev — a former RIZIN lightweight champion who holds a win over current Bellator champion Patricky Pitbull — will no longer be fighting Zach Zane on the preliminary portion of Bellator 278 in Honolulu this Friday. Zane was forced off the card due to undisclosed reasons.

With no replacement available, Musayev awaits a new date and opponent for his debut on American soil, MMA Fighting has learned.

Musayev (18-4) parted ways with RIZIN after losing the lightweight championship to Roberto Satoshi in June 2021, putting a stop to a 14-fight winning streak that included victories over the likes of Pitbull, Johnny Case, Damien Brown and Daron Cruickshank in Japan.

Bellator hosts two events in Hawaii this weekend. The first leg of the doubleheader will be headlined by flyweight champion Juliana Velasquez versus Liz Carmouche, while Cris Cyborg defends her featherweight throne 24 hours later in a rematch with Arlene Blencowe. The co-main event of Bellator 279 sees Juan Archuleta and Raufeon Stots battling for the interim bantamweight strap.

The updated Bellator 278 card can be seen below.

Main card
Juliana Velasquez  vs. Liz Carmouche
Enrique Barzola vs. Nikita Mikhailov
Jornel Lugo vs. Danny Sabatello
Christian Edwards vs. Grant Neal
Manny Muro vs. Nate Andrews

Preliminary card
Weber Almeida vs. Fabricio Franco
Erik Perez vs. Cee Jay Hamilton
Dante Schiro vs. Scotty Hao
Makoa Cooper vs. Blake Perry