The Steel City has produced some high-level fighters over the past decade, and three who spent a wealth of time fighting on the regional scene in Ohio and Pennsylvania have big-time marquee fights coming up over the next few weeks.
First up, John De Jesus (12-8) will make his promotional debut when he faces Vladyslav Parubchenko (16-1) in a 150-pound catchweight preliminary bout tonight at Bellator 244.
De Jesus’ record is a bit deceiving as he has won five of his last seven and eight of his last dozen bouts after starting his career off with a 4-4 mark. That includes back-to-back knockout wins in his last two outings over Ethan Goss and Josh Rohler.
“El Platano” is known for his slick striking and underrated ground game that he works on at The Academy in Pittsburgh alongside Khama Worthy.
Parubchenko hails from the Ukraine and will make his promotional debut as well as he fights for the first time since 2018. He’s a ground specialist with 11 submission wins on his resume.
Worthy’s younger brother Chaka was also slated to make his Bellator debut on this card, but his planned opponent pulled out of the bout.
On Sept. 5, the elder brother will look to move his UFC record to 3-0 when Khama Worthy (16-6) returns to the Octagon to face Ottman Azaitar (12-0) at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Sakai.
“The Death Star” has 12 finishes to his name, including a knockout over Devonte Smith in his UFC debut, and a submission over Luis Pena earlier this year. The leader of The Academy looks to move his winning streak to eight in a row.
Azaitar had an impressive knockout win over Teemu Packalén in his UFC debut, but he fights for the first time in nearly a year. He’s also a knockout specialist with eight KOs on his resume.
Then on Sept. 11, another Pittsburgh area fighter returns to action as Dominic Mazzotta (15-3) takes on Keith Lee (6-3) in a 140-pound catchweight bout at Bellator 245.
Mazzotta looks to improve on his 2-2 record under the Bellator banner as he returns from injury and missing weight in his last outing. He fights for the first time since a unanimous decision over Chris Johnson at WFC 109 last July.
Lee is the younger brother of UFC lightweight Kevin Lee, and he looks for his second Bellator win after topping Shawn Bunch in his promotional debut.