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Houston native Raufeon Stots is dominating in the mixed martial arts sport and is hoping to take home the Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix championship title in Hawaii on April 22.

Stots was born and raised in the Acres Homes neighborhood before moving to Klein, Texas where he began his wrestling career while attending Klein Oak High School.

After turning pro in 2015, Stots compiled eight wins and zero losses before competing at a regional event featured on the Lookin’ for a Fight show, in hopes of being signed  by UFC. Stouts did not win but claimed four more wins and was eventually signed by Bellator MMA.

Stouts currently holds the title of Interim Bellator Bantamweight Champion and is a two-time NCAA Division II champion. If Stouts can defeat his opponent, Patchy Mix,  who is ranked number two at the Hawaii World Grand Prix he will keep his number one rank and title and take home the million-dollar prize.

When asked how he felt about returning to Hawaii to defend his title, Stouts told KHON2 sports director Rob DeMello “I feel like I’m an adopted son of Hawaii at this point. I fought there more than any other place, I made my debut there. I won my first major championship belt there and I get to defend my first championship belt there as well as win, you know, the Grand Prix, win $1,000,000.”

The city of Houston is also cheering for Stouts and honored him with his own day to show their love for the celebrated fighter.

Acres Homes Council Member Tarsha Jackson used her office to highlight Stouts and bring his achievements to the attention of Mayor Sylvester Turner.

Therefore I concur as Mayor of the City of Houston. I hereby proudly proclaim April 4th as Raufeaon Stots day.

To learn more about Stots and his upcoming fight check the list below:

BELLATOR 295: STOTS VS. MIX MAIN CARD: Tickets for BELLATOR 295: Stots vs. Mix are on sale, and available at Ticketmaster and Bellator.com

Saturday, April 22 – live on SHOWTIME

10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT/4 p.m. HST (local)

Flyweight Bout: #3-Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (12-2) vs. #2-Kana Watanabe (11-1-1)

BELLATOR 295: STOTS VS. MIX PRELIMINARY CARD:

BELLATOR MMA YouTube channel | SHOWTIME Sports YouTube channel | Pluto TV

7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT/1 p.m. HST (local)

Heavyweight Bout: Davion Franklin (5-1) vs. Kasim Aras (7-1)

Lightweight Bout: Yancy Medeiros (16-8, 1 NC) vs. Charlie Leary (17-13-1)

Lightweight Bout: Bobby King (12-5) vs. Aalon Cruz (10-4)