Saad Awad returns at Bellator 122, meets Joe Duarte in a rematch of their 2011 bout in Strikeforce

Saad Awad will be returning to the Bellator cage on July 25th as he will meet Joe Duarte on the preliminary card of Bellator 122, which is a rematch of their 2011 bout in Strikeforce. Saad Awad

The fight booking was recently announced by Bellator.

Bellator 122 will come from the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California and will be headlined by the middleweight tournament final between Brett Cooper and Brandon Halsey.

Awad (15-6) was a finalist in the season eight tournament and was defeated in the final by David Rickels. He would be place right back into the tournament and season nine and would lose to the eventual tournament winner Will Brooks in the semifinals by unanimous decision.

Duarte (10-3) has been out of action since 2012 when he was defeated by Ryan Couture in Strikeforce. The defeat snapped a five fight winning streak, which included a second round armbar submission victory over Awad in his Strikeforce debut.

The current Bellator 122: Cooper vs. Halsey fight card is below.

Main Card: (Spike TV – 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT)
Brett Cooper (20-9) vs. Brandon Halsey (6-0) *
Andrey Koreshkov (16-1) vs. Adam McDonough (11-0) **

Preliminary Card: (Spike.com – 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT)
Stephen Martinez (10-2) vs. Sergio Rios (7-0)
Dmitriy Sosnovskiy (8-0) vs. Manny Lara (4-4)
Joe Duarte (10-3) vs. Saad Awad (15-6)
Fernando Gonzalez (20-12) vs. Karl Amoussou (17-6)
Bubba Jenkins (6-1) vs. Poppies Martinez (29-9, 1NC)

* – Middleweight Tournament Final
** – Welterweight Tournament Final