If successful, Pitbull would have become the first man to become a three division champion in a major MMA organization, the first man to become champion in two divisions simultaneously twice, and that his win would have mark the fourth time overall where a fighter has won a title in different divisions (after Joe Warren at Bellator 128, Ryan Bader at Bellator 214, and Pitbull at Bellator 221).[8] Meanwhile,
Pitbull also became the first challenger in a Bellator champion vs. champion bout to drop a division.[9]
A welterweight bout between Bobby Nash and Roman Faraldo was scheduled for this event.[10] In the beginning of May, it was announced that Faraldo had pulled out of the bout and replaced by Kyle Crutchmer.[11]
A middleweight bout between Austin Vanderford and Imamshafi Aliev and a bantamweight bout between Leandro Higo and Nikita Mikhailov were scheduled for this event. However, both bouts were scrapped due to unknown reasons for the middleweight bout and illness for Mikhailov for the bantamweight one.[12]