Sinéad Kavanagh to Rematch Janay Harding on Feb 24 at Bellator Dublin

A featherweight fight between Dubliner Sinéad “KO” Kavanagh (8-5) and New Zealand’s Janay “Hollowpoint” Harding (6-6) is slated for Bellator’s return to Dublin on Friday 24th February. Multiple sources with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the news to SevereMMA.com.

The pair will rematch in front of a 3Arena crowd, having previously competed against each other in Connecticut back in 2018. Their first meeting was a competitive stand-up battle, with both fighters enjoying moments of success. Midway through round one, Harding landed a slicing right elbow, which cut open Kavanagh above her right eye.

Despite the cut man’s best efforts, the cageside doctor advised the fight to be waved off.

Since then, Kavanagh has gone 3-2 inside the Bellator cage, challenging for Cris Cyborg’s featherweight crown. Most recently, the SBG Ireland charge overcame fellow countrywoman Leah McCourt in one of the biggest domestic matchups in Irish MMA history, at Bellator 275 in February.

Harding is 2-3 in MMA since facing Kavanagh, with the 28-year-old also taking two boxing bouts in 2019. In her last two MMA fights, Harding suffered a submission defeat to Leah McCourt, before dropping a decision to Dayana Silva in her last outing. As such, Harding will be aiming to snap a two-fight skid when she faces Kavanagh.

Late last week, we reported on SevereMMA.com that Richie Smullen will face Piotr Niedzielski on the Dublin card, with a number-one contender matchup between Pedro Carvalho and Jeremy Kennedy also targeted for the 24th February card.

Tickets for the 3Arena event are on sale via Ticketmaster.