# Bellator 96 slated for June 19 with Chandler-Jansen title fight



## OU

http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/...e-19-with-chandler-jansen-title-fight-king-mo


> Bellator will kick off its summer events schedule on Wednesday, June 19 with Bellator 96, which features a title fight and the start of a four-man light-heavyweight tournament.
> 
> The event takes place at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla., and the night's main card airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.
> 
> In the headliner, undefeated Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler (11-0 MMA, 8-0 BFC), who's currently ranked No. 3 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA lightweight rankings, meets recent tournament winner Dave Jansen (19-2 MMA, 6-0 BFC), a former WEC fighter who's won six straight fights, all under the Bellator banner.
> 
> In the opening round of the 205-pound tournament, former Strikeforce champion Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal (9-2 MMA, 1-1 BFC) looks to rebound from an upset loss to Emanuel Newton in a previous tournament when he meets Seth Petruzelli (14-7 MMA, 1-1 BFC), who was bounced from a tourney by Jacob Noe in his most recent outing.
> 
> On the other side of the bracket, big-show vet and former Strikeforce champ Renato "Babalu" Sobral (37-10 MMA, 0-1 BFC), whose previous Bellator tourney run ended with a vicious KO loss to Mikhail Zayats, meets Jacob Noe (11-2 MMA, 2-1 BFC), whose nine-fight win streak also came to an end with a tourney defeat to Zayats.
> 
> Bellator 96's main card kicks off with a welterweight bout between War Machine (12-4 MMA, 0-0 BFC), who returns from a 17-month layoff to legal and injury issues, to fight Blas Avena (8-6 MMA, 1-0 BFC), a WEC vet who recently made his Bellator debut and knocked out Lenny Lovato.
> 
> Bellator 96's preliminary-card bouts will be announced in the coming weeks.
> 
> The latest Bellator 96 card now includes:
> 
> MAIN CARD (Spike TV, 10 p.m. ET)
> 
> Champ 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


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## SexyHobo

Looking forward to it. I miss not having a weekly bellator to watch.

War machine still has the dumbest name.


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## OU

SexyHobo said:


> Looking forward to it. I miss not having a weekly bellator to watch.
> 
> *War machine still has the dumbest name*.


He is still one of the dumbest fighters in the sport.


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## Canadian Psycho

If Petruzelli knocks out King Mo, I'll die laughing.


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## LizaG

Babalu always was a badass, but now he folds after one big shot, don't go back in there Babalu!


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## kantowrestler

I hate to say it but this is a short path for King Mo and Sobral. I'm hoping that the Season 8 welterweight tournament finals are scheduled for one of the events. That way things can wind up.


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## OU

http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/...ds-heavyweight-tourney-expands-to-three-hours


> The event, Bellator 96, takes place June 19 at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla. *The three-hour main card airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com*.
> 
> The main card now boasts six fights with the addition of the tourney's opening round. The heavyweight matchups include Vinicius Queiroz (6-3 MMA, 1-1 BFC) vs. Rich Hale (21-5 MMA, 6-2 BFC) and Vitaly Minakov (10-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) vs. Ron Sparks (8-1 MMA, 3-1 BFC).
> 
> The tourney's final will take place later this summer.


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
Rich Hale vs. Vinicius Queiroz - heavyweight-tournament opening round
Vitaly Minakov vs. Ron Sparks - heavyweight-tournament opening round
Blas Avena vs. War Machine

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, 6 p.m. ET)

Mikey Brown vs. Brandon Halsey
Steven Artoff vs. Justin McNally
Damon Jackson vs. Keith Miner
Mike Maldonado vs. Jason Sampson
Brandon Girtz vs. TBA
Keith Berry vs. Cortez Coleman


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## joshua7789

Babalu is old and done. King Mo has always been over hyped. Chandler will murder Jansen. Putting UFC washouts like Vinicius Queiroz and Petruzelli isn't doing bellator any favors in the legitimacy category (warmachine isn't helping their cause either). 

And those are my thoughts on this card.


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## kantowrestler

I was wondering how they were going to spread out the tournaments. My guess is that they'll do these two round, then the next round at bantamweight in July with maybe the welterweight final for season eight. August will probably be the finals including Fight Master.


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## Canadian Psycho

Great. Missed the entire card.


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## dudeabides

Here's the finish that will get talked about most I guess:


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## MagiK11

Sugar-Free_LizaG said:


> Babalu always was a badass, but now he folds after one big shot, don't go back in there Babalu!


I agree and I'm glad he retired. He use to be one of my favorite fighters and I was rooting for him each time he fought Chuck, but I don't want to see him punch drunk in 5 or so years.


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## kantowrestler

Well he had a good career so it kind of sucks that it'd end this way.


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## GDPofDRB

For the amount of fights he had and the collection of competition he faced, he only has a few really bad knockouts. Unfortunately, most of those came in the past four years so it will be natural people remember him more for those losses then for the 7 or so year stretch when he was a top ten staple in the larger divisions. His opponents faced list is impressive.


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## kantowrestler

Now does the same go to Seth Petrezelli?


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## LizaG

Of course not! 

He folded against Bob Sapp in K-1, and got a quick KO over an untested and overhyped Kimbo. His biggest other win was a KO over a fading Ricco Rodriguez.

Decent, but beat very little decent competition, and lost to mediocre fighters as of late.


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## kantowrestler

To be fair he dropped Sapp but then hyper extended his arm. I should know I saw the match live on Japanese TV.


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