Brian Moore & Kiefer Crosbie Fights Announced for Bellator 263

It was announced by the Bellator team on Wednesday that SBG HQ bantamweight Brian Moore will take on Jared Scoggins at Bellator 263. The event is set to take place in Los Angeles, California on July 31.

The last time we saw the Wexford man compete was at Bellator 247 in October 2020. Moore jumped up at weightclass to take on Italian featherweight Simone D’Anna who was fighting on home soil. “The Pikeman” put on a masterclass behind enemy lines, the fight was stopped in round two. Moore landed a vicious uppercut and followed up with a laser right hand which forced the ref to call a halt to the fight.

Moore was set to take on Erik Perez earlier this year but was forced to pull from the fight after contracting Covid-19. Speaking to SevereMMA Morre expressed his disappointment over having to pull from that fight but shared his excitement on returning to action again at Bellator 263.

“I felt fantastic on the lead up to the Perez fight but obviously I had to pull out after contracting the virus. Since recovering from it, for me, I’ve put my nose back to the grindstone. I’m feeling really good in training again and I really can’t wait to get back inside the Bellator cage. I feel very ready for this fight. The most cutting thing was that I felt great ahead of the Perez fight and the performance was taken away from me. I feel just as good, if not even better right now ahead of this fight with Jared which is exciting and I can’t wait for the fight to happen.”

Moore’s next opponent will be Jared “Psycho” Scoggins in the 135-pound division. Scoggins will compete under the Bellator banner for the first time. In recent times he has has been unlucky, his fight with Toby Minsh was scrapped due to Minsh missing weight. Another fight with Magomed Magomedov didn’t materialise when Scoggins was forced to withdraw.

Scoggins did pick up the Cage Fury bantamweight title in his last outing and finds himself on a five fight win streak coming into this encounter. Moore has won his last two fights, this will be his eight fight under the Bellator lights. The Wexford man suffered two broken hands in his fight with Noad Lahat in 2018. That injury hampered progress in the SBG bantamweights career in recent times. Moore returned from injury to win a unanimous decision over Son Le Binh before dismantling Simone D’Anna in October 2020.

SBG HQ standout Kiefer Crosbie will also make his highly anticipated debut in the lightweight division at Bellator 263 at the LA Forum on July 31. The Dublin man will step into take on Georgi Karakhanyan in what will be his first fight at 155 pounds.

“Big Daddy” will be looking to get back into the win column after being left disappointed in his last outing against Charlie Leary Bellator Euro Series 9 in October 2020. Both fighters fought in a back and forth fight in the 3Arena in Dublin but the fight was stopped early due to a cut sustained in first round forced the cageside doctor to call a halt to the fight. That contest was at a catchweight of 160 pounds, this time around the SBG HQ man will move down to take on Karakhanyan for his lightweight debut.

Russian born fighter Karakhanyan last fought on the Bellator 251 card when he picked up a split decision over Bryce Logan. It is not the first time Georgi has faced off against Irish opposition having previously fought Team Ryano’s Paul Redmond in early 2020. Karakhanyan has 30 professional wins, 15 by submission and seven wins by knockout.

Crosbie is 4-2 under the Bellator banner since he joined the promotion in 2018. The Dublin man started his career as a welterweight has slowly worked his way down to the lightweight class. Crosbie will join teammate Brian Moore on the card when he travels over to fight Stateside for the second time. A win for Kiefer over a veteran like his Russian rival would put him right in the mix in the lightweight rankings.

Bellator 263 will take place at The Forum in Los Angeles, California on July 31st. The event will be broadcast on Virgin Media, YouTube and Showtime Sports.