Bellator 96 - June 19th Results & Discussion

Cosmo as well

I think its about time for Cosmo to be put into a tournament.

Vitaly Minakov's second Bellator fight will take place on June, 19 in Summer Series Gran Prix. Minakov hasn't mentioned (it keeps in secret) his oppenent's name but hinted that his next rival is a striker.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vitaly-Minakov/443715695673013

That striker could very well be Rich Hale. Hale will be in the tourney. Rebney all but confirmed it, and Hale says big things coming soon on his Twitter.

Ryan Martinez is also a possibility for the opponent, as he's been training boxing lately with the Mayweathers like Mo, he won a pseudo qualifier, sources have reported he's in the tourney (said vs. Hale), and Bjorn hinted at it with Ryan Martinez fun facts on his Twitter (like he did with Petruzelli, Babalu, etc.)

The best bets for the final spot are Ruslan Magomedov,Big Monster Santos and Vinicius Queiroz

According to Bjorn, the June 19th show will start airing on Spike TV at a special time of 7 EST. And they expect to have at least 5 fights televised, and are trying to squeeze a 6th in there.

MR.WILLIE wrote:

Vitaly Minakov's second Bellator fight will take place on June, 19 in Summer Series Gran Prix. Minakov hasn't mentioned (it keeps in secret) his oppenent's name but hinted that his next rival is a striker.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vitaly-Minakov/443715695673013

Finally...Can't wait. Could be rising the ranks soon.

MR.WILLIE wrote:That striker could very well be Rich Hale. Hale will be in the tourney. Rebney all but confirmed it, and Hale says big things coming soon on his Twitter.

Ryan Martinez is also a possibility for the opponent, as he's been training boxing lately with the Mayweathers like Mo, he won a pseudo qualifier, sources have reported he's in the tourney (said vs. Hale), and Bjorn hinted at it with Ryan Martinez fun facts on his Twitter (like he did with Petruzelli, Babalu, etc.)

The best bets for the final spot are Ruslan Magomedov,Big Monster Santos and Vinicius Queiroz

According to Bjorn, the June 19th show will start airing on Spike TV at a special time of 7 EST. And they expect to have at least 5 fights televised, and are trying to squeeze a 6th in there.

I hope they give him Hale in the first round.

Babalu will shock the world

RussianTopTeam wrote:Babalu will shock the world

Losing to Noe would be pretty shocking.

The preliminary card is set for Bellator 96, which kicks off the organization's three-event "Summer Series" on June 19.

The featured bout includes a couple of big-show vets as former Strikeforce fighters Cortez Coleman (9-3 MMA, 1-0 BFC) and Keith Berry (14-10 MMA, 1-0 BFC) meet in a middleweight matchup.

Bellator 96 takes place at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla., and Spike TV airs the main card following prelims on Spike.com. Lightweight champion Michael Chandler meets challenger Dave Jansen in the headliner.

The rest of Bellator 96's prelims are loaded with prospects. Overall, the 16 fighters competing on the card sport a 102-25 record.

Both Coleman and Berry recently made their Bellator debuts. Coleman scored a decision win over Matt Jones at Bellator 86 for his second straight win, and Berry submitted Richard Rigmaden at Bellator 93 for his third straight.

The other bouts include light heavyweights Brandon Halsey (3-0 MMA, 1-0 BFC) vs. Mikey Brown (3-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC), bantamweights Justin McNally (1-1 MMA, 1-0 BFC) vs. Steven Artoff (5-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC), lightweights Keith Miner (5-4 MMA, 0-0 BFC) vs. Damon Jackson (5-0 MMA, 1-0 BFC), bantamweights Mike Maldonado (4-0 MMA, 1-0 BFC) vs. Jason Sampson (10-1 MMA, 2-0 BFC), and Brandon Girtz (9-2 MMA, 1-0 BFC) vs. Treston Thomison (7-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC) at a catchweight.

The full Bellator 96 card now includes:

MAIN CARD (Spike TV, 7 p.m. ET)
Michael Chandler vs. Dave Jansen - for lightweight title
Muhammed Lawal vs. Seth Petruzelli - light-heavyweight tournament opening round
Jacob Noe vs. Renato Sobral - light-heavyweight tournament opening round
Blas Avena vs. War Machine
PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, 5:30 p.m. ET)
Raphael Butler vs. Karl Etherington
Volkan Oezdemir vs. Joe Yager
Mikey Brown vs. Brandon Halsey
Steven Artoff vs. Justin McNally
Damon Jackson vs. Keith Miner
Mike Maldonado vs. Jason Sampson
Brandon Girtz vs. Treston Thomison
Keith Berry vs. Cortez Coleman

http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/05/bellator-96-prelims-include-berry-coleman-seven-other-matchups

^Can´t wait to see Minakov rise to the top.

Volkan is a very good fighter. He can be threatful to the division.

http://www.bellator.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&ATCLID=207671361&DB_OEM_ID=23600

As Bellator prepares for its long awaited Summer Series return, the full fight card has been completed as Bellator MMA returns to WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma Wednesday, June 19th live on Spike TV. The night will feature a Lightweight World Championship fight between reigning Bellator Champion Michael Chandler, as he defends his belt against Dave Jansen. The night will also feature the start of the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Summer Series Tournaments, as well as the return of the always controversial War Machine.

The event will broadcast LIVE starting at 6 p.m. CST and feature three hours of action on Spike TV. The preliminary card will be streamed LIVE and FREE on Spike.com starting at 5:00 p.m. CST. Tickets for the event are on sale now and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or by visiting the WinStar World Casino Box Office, with tickets starting at just $45 dollars.

Minakov enters the tournament undefeated at a perfect 10-0, including seven straight stoppage victories. Possessing a dominate ground game thanks to his extensive Sambo background and a developing striking arsenal, Minakov enters the tournament as one of the favorites and has his sights set on a Bellator World Title.

“I want everyone to know that I’m not here just to ‘take part’ in a Bellator Tournament, but to win it all and become a Bellator Champion.”

Minakov will have no easy test in the Semifinals of the Light Heavyweight Tournament as “The Monster” Ron Sparks returns to Bellator looking to punch his ticket to the Finals with a victory June 19th from WinStar World Casino. Sparks isn’t looking to play head games coming into this fight, and knows Minakov will be well aware of what the Louisville native is bringing to the table.

“Everyone knows I’m looking stand in that cage and throw bombs, no questions asked,” Sparks said. “I think the heavyweight tournament is going to be awesome. I am looking forward to it being a four-man tournament. It will give the fighters more opportunities to fight and I want my shot at the title.”

The other side of the bracket will feature fan-favorite and Bellator veteran Rich Hale as the Arizona native battles the imposing Brazilian Vinicius “Spartan” Queiroz. Hale burst onto the scene with inverted triangle win over Nick Fekete in 2011 and his continued his assent up the heavyweight ranks.

“I am really looking forward to the heavyweight tournament and my training has been going great,” Hale said. “I’ve been working hard and making adjustments to the game plan to come in and get the heavyweight belt.”

“This event is insanely stacked, and it’s the reason we are making this a jam packed three hour show,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “With a Lightweight Title fight, Mo, Babalu, War Machine and the start of our heavyweight tournament, this is going to be an amazing show start to finish on Spike.”

Following the event, Spike will air the premier of Fight Master: Bellator MMA, which features 32 of the best welterweight fighters on the planet as they compete for a spot in the Bellator MMA Tournament and a $100,000 prize.

Bellator MMA Main Card:

Bellator Lightweight Title Fight: Michael Chandler (11-0) vs. Dave Jansen (19-2)

Bellator Light Heavyweight Tournament: King Mo Lawal (9-2) vs. Seth Petruzelli (14-7)

Bellator Light Heavyweight Tournament: Renato “Babalu” Sobral (37-10) vs. Jacob Noe (11-2)

Bellator Heavyweight Tournament: Vinicius “Spartan” Queiroz (6-3) vs. Rich Hale (21-5)

Bellator Heavyweight Tournament: Vitaly Minakov (10-0) vs. Ron Sparks (8-1)

Welterweight Feature Fight: War Machine (12-4) vs. Blas Avena (8-6)

Bellator MMA Preliminary Card:



Light Heavyweight Feature Fight: Brandon Halsey (3-0) vs. Mike Brown (3-1)

Bantamweight Feature Fight: Justin McNally (1-1) vs. Steven Artoff (5-1)

Lightweight Feature Fight: Keith Miner (5-4) vs. Damon Jackson (4-0)

Bantamweight Feature Fight: Mike Maldonado (4-0) vs. Jason Sampson (10-1)

Catchweight Feature Fight: Brandon Girtz (8-2) vs. TBA (0-0)

Middleweight Feature Fight: Keith Berry (14-10) vs. Cortez Coleman (9-3)

No! What happen to Volkan and Etherington?

Marcelo Tigre wrote:No! What happen to Volkan and Etherington?

http://www.bellator.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23600&ATCLID=207502961


marcelo, both fights will happen on june 19th....14 fights overall...

volkan vs yager and butler vs etherrington....both fights will be on the prelims....

Was hoping for a bit more out of these summer series tournaments but still looking forward to it. Hopefully in the fall they return with improved tournaments like the recent ones.

The fact that this is a six fight card already makes this one of Bellator's best, in my opinion.

The LHW is disappointingly weak but I think they'll deliver with the Heavyweights.

I'm guessing the bantamweight field will include West, Marx, Rivera, and Pitbull.

^LHW is weak and aside from Minakov HW could have been better as well. Still looking forward to it but I think they could have put together better tournaments. Hope they just return to full force in the fall with stacked tournaments.

Does Mo Lawal really deserve the King moniker?

wekka wrote:Does Mo Lawal really deserve the King moniker?

I think so. He had some sky to the limit potential. Marketed himself great and really was a student of the game.

His career came at a time were it had to be under zuffa and they hate fighters like Mo. So he never built a fanbase in the US. Zuffa hates walk out entrances, people that think for themselves and know the true history of the sport like Mo.

After the near death from surgeries he is clearly too slow to compete with middle of the pack guys now. He was a future champ and if he was in pride in 2004 would have been a true super star.

no one had the ring generalship like that early in their career. Combined with his pedigree from USA wrestling I had him ranked higher than Jones as a prospect. But it just wasnt meant to be. Sad....

I totally agree with your first point. All these things you hear about Jon Jones nowadays, the same was being said about Mo after his run in Sengoku.

How he had the skillset to dominate 205 for many years to come and the ability to go all Holyfield and be competitive at HW and possibly be championship material. That layoff between the Mousasi and Feijao fights definitely hampered him.

He really dug himself into a hole after knocking out Wiuff in his debut. It made people accustomed to seeing him fight people seemingly above him instead of slowly building himself, like he probably should have in hindsight. He was a tremendous talent.

I just think the King moniker is inappropriate. What exactly is he king of? He needs to just humble himself. Be Mo Lawal. Claw your way back to the top.

Mo might be smart to just focus on takedowns and ground and pound for Petruzelli.

I have to imagine Chandler will beat Jansen soundly.

Mo is still one of the best LHW fighters imo. I can see him beating Rashad Evans and Hendo.

PRIDE FC wrote:Mo is still one of the best LHW fighters imo. I can see him beating Rashad Evans and Hendo.

Mo would be a tough test for both of them, I agree.  Tournament is coming up.  I think he takes this one.