An injury to Julia Budd has taken her out of the Inaugural Bellator Women’s Featherweight Championship bout next week at Bellator 155 in Boise, Idaho. The organization announced on Tuesday that Budd will be replaced by Alexis Dufresne, who now meets Marloes Coenen for that belt on May 20.
Dufresne makes her Bellator debut on a week and a half’s notice after a two-fight losing streak in the UFC, and in her first fight since January of 2015. The 25-year-old dropped decisions to Sarah Moras and Marion Reneau in the Octagon after an undefeated run into her UFC debut.
She’ll now take on a longtime vet in former Strikeforce Champ Coenen. A decade the senior of Dufresne, Coenen has won four of five fights since losing her Strikeforce Title to Miesha Tate back in 2011. That includes consecutive submission wins in the Bellator cage over Annalisa Bucci and Arlene Blencowe.
Next Friday’s event airs live on Spike, headlined by the Middleweight Championship bout between Rafael Carvalho and Melvin Manhoef.
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