Ryan Bader put his heavyweight title on the line against Cheick Kongo in the headliner of tonight’s Bellator 226 event in San Jose.

Bader (27-5 MMA) had captured the promotions vacant heavyweight title this past January at Bellator 214, defeating MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko by first round knockout.

‘Darth’ entered tonight’s Bellator 226 main event on a seven-fight win streak, which included victories over Ilir Latifi, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Linton Vassell, Mo Lawal and Matt Mitrione.

Meanwhile, Cheick Kongo (30-10-2 MMA) ntered tonight’s championship contest on an eight-fight winning streak, his latest being a decision victory over Vitaly Minakov at Bellator 216.

Tonight’s Bellator heavyweight title tilt was being dominated by Ryan Bader in the early moments before an accidental eye poke resulted in the fight being called off. Due to the nature of the incident the bout was ruled a no-contest.

Check out how the pros reacted to the Bellator 226 main event below:

The Ryan Bader v Cheick Kongo heavyweight title fight is going to be ruled a NC after an accidental eye poke from Bader left Kongo unable to see out of his left eye. He seems to be in a lot of pain.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) September 8, 2019

https://twitter.com/Rampage4real/status/1170564618932105216?s=20

Sometimes, these things happen… #Bellator226

— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) September 8, 2019

https://twitter.com/JESnowden/status/1170540589605097473?s=20

Official Bellator 226 Result: Ryan Bader vs. Cheick Kongo ends in a no-contest

Would you like to see Bellator book a rematch between Cheick Kongo and Ryan Bader? Sound off in the comments section PENN Nation!