The second heavyweight tournament semifinal bout did not take long as Vitaly Minakov punched his ticket to the tournament final as he needed less than one minute to defeat Ron Sparks.
The fight opened with each fighter looking to land a knockout punch which included Sparks throwing a spinning back fist.
The punch would miss and Minakov would end up dropping Sparks with a punch shortly after the failed spinning back fist and finished the fight on the ground with strikes.
The official end of the fight came at the :32 second mark of the opening round and this is the second straight first round defeat for Sparks (8-2).
Minakov (11-0) now has nine wins coming in the first round and he advadvances to the Bellator heavyweight tournament final where he will face Ryan Martinez who defeated Rich Hale earlier tonight.
Bellator 96 Results:
Vitaly Minakov def. Ron Sparks via TKO (strikes) Round 1, :32
War Machine def. Blas Avena via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:55
Damon Jackson def. Keith Miner via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:00
Raphael Butler def. Jermiah O’Neil via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:57
Ryan Martinez def. Rich Hale via KO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:19
Brandon Halsey def. Joe Yager via split decision (30-28, 28-30, 30-28)
Derek Campos def. Brandon Girtz via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Justin McNally def. Steven Artoff via verbal submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 2:44