Bellator will be returning to the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California on February 13th for Bellator 133 and the event will be headlined by a middleweight bout as former champion Alexander Shlemenko meets Melvin Manhoef.
The event and fight booking was announced by Bellator on late Friday evening.
Tickets for Bellator 133: Shlemenko vs. Manhoef will go on sale next week and ticket prices have not been released by the promotion at this time.
Shlemenko (50-9) lost the Bellator middleweight title in September when he was submitted by Brandon Halsey at Bellator 126. It was his second straight defeat and prior to the recent defeats, he had won 13 in a row.
Manhoef (29-12-1, 1NC) will also enter this fight following a defeat as he lost to Joe Schilling at Bellator 131 last month. Prior to that fight, he had won back to back fights including a win over Doug Marshall at Bellator 125.
“You take Melvin Manhoef and Alexander Shlemenko, two fighters with a combined 56 knockout victories between them, and put them in a cage, and you know exactly what you’re going to get,” Bellator MMA President Scott Coker said. “These two fighters have both been known to stand in the pocket and trade bombs. This will be an absolute firefight, and we’ve got a number of other great fights planned for the card that we’ll be announcing very soon.”
More details on this event will be announced shortly by Bellator and it should be noted that the February 27th event at the Mohegan Sun will now be known as Bellator 134.