Bellator 284 Update: Ex-Title Challenger Austin Vanderford to Face Anthony Adams

Former middleweight No. 1 contender Austin Vanderford will return to action against Anthony Adams at Bellator 284 on Aug. 12.

Promotion officials confirmed the pairing following an initial report from MMAjunkie.com. Bellator 284 takes place at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., and is headlined by a welterweight clash between Neiman Gracie and Goiti Yamauchi. The main card airs on Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, while prelims stream on Showtime Sports YouTube channel, the Bellator MMA YouTube channel and Pluto TV at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT.

The promotion announced several other bouts for the preliminary card: Pat Downey III vs. Jeff Souder at middleweight; Said Sowma vs. Gokham Saricam at heavyweight; Bailey Schoenfelder vs. Mark Currier at heavyweight; Josh Hill vs. Matheus Mattos at bantamweight; Mitchell McKee vs. Tony Ortega at bantamweight and DeAnna Bennett vs. Justin Kish at flyweight.

Vanderford last appeared at Bellator 275, where he suffered a first-round technical knockout loss to Gegard Mousasi in a middleweight title bout on Feb. 25. Prior to that, Vanderford was victorious in his first 11 professional appearances, including five wins under the Bellator MMA banner.

Adams, meanwhile, scored a unanimous verdict over Khalid Murtazaliev in his promotion debut at Bellator 266. The two-time Dana White’s Contender Series competitor was slated to return to action at Bellator 280 against Lorenz Larkin before withdrawing from the proposed bout.