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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The lightweight rematch between Eddie Alvarez and Shinya Aoki is official, and will come to Bellator 66 on April 20.
Bellator announced the bout and date on Thursday, and revealed that the event will come to the I-X Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
Alvarez and Aoki met on New Year's Eve 2008 in Japan, with Aoki catching Alvarez in a heel hook just a minute and a half into the fight. That was only Alvarez's second career loss at the time, and snapped a five fight win streak. He then went on a seven fight winning streak after the loss before losing his Bellator Lightweight Title to Michael Chandler last November.
Aoki is one of the greatest submission specialists the sport has ever seen, and he's gone 11-2 since the two of them faced off in 2008. He enters his Bellator debut on a seven fight win streak, five of which have come by submission - including three straight by neck crank last year.
Penick's analysis: This is quite possibly the best matchup Bellator could put together on their roster. Alvarez's fight with Michael Chandler was incredible last November, but from a "big time fight" standpoint this is one of the best that Bellator has ever scheduled. This potentially could be Alvarez's final Bellator fight as well, adding another air of significance to the fight.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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