The ninth season of Bellator MMA will begin on September 7th and the fight card will feature a title fight, a bantamweight tournament semifinal and the opening round of the season nine middleweight tournament.
The event will come from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut and tickets for the event are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com or by visiting the Mohegan Sun Box Office, with tickets starting at just $30 dollars.
The main card on Spike TV will be headlined by Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko (47-7) making his first title defense against Brett Cooper (19-8).
Shlemenko was initially scheduled to meet season eight tournament winner Doug Marshall but an injury forced him to pull out of the fight and Bellator use a new tournament champion replacement clause to give Cooper the title shot.
In the co-main event, former Bellator champion Joe Warren (8-3) will return to the Bellator cage and he will meet Nick Kirk (10-2) in a semifinal bout in the bantamweight tournament. The winner of this fight will move into the tournament final and meet the winner of the other semifinal bout that takes place at Bellator 100 as Brandon Bender (11-0) meets Travis Marx (20-4).
Also on the main card will be the opening round bouts in the season nine middleweight tournament with the matchups being Justin Torrey (7-0) vs. Andreas Spang (8-3), Perry Filkins (7-1) vs. Jeremy Kimball (10-3), Brian Rogers (10-5) vs. Mikkel Parlo (9-1) and Jason Butcher (6-0) vs. Giva Santana (18-2).
The current Bellator 98: Shlemenko vs. Cooper fight card is below:
Main Card: (Spike TV – 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)
Alexander Shlemenko (47-7) vs. Brett Cooper (19-8)
Joe Warren (8-3) vs. Nick Kirk (10-2) *
Justin Torrey (7-0) vs. Andreas Spang (8-3) **
Perry Filkins (7-1) vs. Jeremy Kimball (10-3) **
Brian Rogers (10-5) vs. Mikkel Parlo (9-1) **
Jason Butcher (6-0) vs. Giva Santana (18-2) **
Preliminary Card: (Spike.com – 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT)
Derek Anderson (8-0) vs. Patricky Pitbull (10-4)
Jeff Nader (5-5) vs. Mike Mucitelli (5-0)
Dave Vitkay (12-12) vs. Brennan Ward (5-1)
Andrew Calandrelli (6-3) vs. Ryan Quinn (7-4-1)
Nick Piedmont (8-3-1) vs. Matt Bessette (11-4)
Glenn Allair (3-1) vs. Riso Disciullo (0-0)
Josh Diekman (12-5) vs. Parker Porter (5-3)
* – Bantamweight Tournament Semifinal
** – Middleweight Tournament Opening Round