Heavyweights Slim Trabelsi and Louie Sutherland will meet in the French capital on May 17 as Bellator Champions Series descends on Paris.
The card will mark the promotion’s second Champions Series event, on the back of a successful inaugural show in Belfast.
At the top of the bill, Usman Nurmagomedov will look to defend his Lightweight title against Alexander Shabliy as Patchy Mix makes the first defence of his Bellator World Bantamweight title against Magomed Magomedov.
Sutherland is no stranger to the big stage, even though he has only competed professionally eight times. After making his professional debut on the UK domestic scene and racking up four first round finishes in his first four bouts, the Scotsman was given the opportunity to compete in the 2022 PFL Playoffs, when he faced Abraham Bably. Unfortunately for then 28-year-old Bably proved to be too much over all three rounds and Sutherland was handed his first professional loss.
Although he lost the contest, Sutherland caught the eye of the PFL, who then signed him to compete on their PFL Challenger Series 2023. He faced off against Alton Meeks and bout straight back to winning ways, with a dominant second round stoppage against the American.
Sutherland then made the trip to The Netherlands to compete on Levels Fight League against Moreno Kacapor at LFL 9. Again for 'The Vanilla Gorilla', he found himself on the wrong side of another decision.
In his most recent bout, the first round finishes were back for Sutherland who stopped Luis Carlos de Brito with less than a minute left on the clock of in first round.
Trabelsi, is yet to taste defeat as a professional, since joining the professional ranks in 2019. After a unanimous decision win his professional debut, the Tunisian took two years away from the cage before returning at Levels Fight League 2, when he stopped the debuting Ryan Spillane in the second round of their contest.
2022 proved to be the most successful of his career so far, picking up three wins and a title in the process. His first bout of the year came against the undefeated John Winter at LFL 4, before signing with ARES. In his promotional debut, he handed the vastly more experienced Luis Henrique a unanimous decision loss before meeting Azamat Nuftillaev for the vacant Heavyweight title. In the second round of the bout, Trabelsi reigned down some heavy ground and pound to secure his first major title.
His impressive run caught the eye of Bellator, who signed the Tunisian in 2023. He made his promotional debut in the October of 2023, when he beat Davion Franklin at Bellator 300.
With 10 finishes between them, fans can expect a classic Heavyweight war when the two meet inside the Accor Arena.
