Bellator President Scott Coker took to Twitter today to announce the promotion has acquired undefeated Dutch prospect Robin van Roosmalen. The cryptic tweet also alluded to the fact that the kickboxing convert will compete in the upcoming Bellator featherweight grand prix, which is scheduled to begin in October.
The 29-year-old decided to make the switch to MMA full-time after losing his GLORY featherweight belt to Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao at GLORY 59 in August of 2018. During his run with one of the biggest kickboxing promotions in the world, van Roosmalen won 16 of his 20 bouts, captured the lightweight and featherweight world titles, and scored huge victories over champions like Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong, Marat Grigorian, Murthel Groenhart, Davit Kiria and Andy Ristie. His overall kickboxing record featured 51 victories, 17 losses, and 3 draws.
The Hard Knocks 365 representative made his professional MMA debut with a second-round knockout victory over Athinodoros Michailidis at FFC 22 in Febuary of 2016. In his latest bout, van Roosmalen scored his second win in as many bouts with a first-round knockout over Risto Dimitrov at FFC 26 in 2017. Despite being out of the cage for over two years, van Roosmalen will enter his Bellator debut with 15 years of combat sports experience.