Chidi Njokuani has a new opponent for next week’s Bellator 156 in Fresno, California as he will now meet Thiago Jambo in the co-main event of the fight card.
The new fight booking was announced by Bellator in a press release on Friday.
Bellator 156 will come from the Save Mart Center on Friday, June 17 and will be headlined by a rematch as Marcos Galvao defends the Bellator bantamweight title against former champion Eduardo Dantas.
Njokuani (14-4, 1NC) was initially scheduled to meet former Bellator welterweight champion Douglas Lima in the co-main event of this fight card. However, Lima was moved to next month’s Bellator 158 to face Paul Daley when Daley’s original opponent, Josh Koscheck pulled out of the event. Jambo (18-4) will be making his Bellator debut and was initially scheduled to face Rickey Rainey. With Goncalves being elevated to the co-main event, a Bellator official told The MMA Report that Rainey has been scratched from the event.
The current Bellator 156: Galvao vs. Dantas II fight card is below.
Main Card: (Spike – 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT)
Marcos Galvao (17-6-1) vs. Eduardo Dantas (17-4)
Chidi Njokuani (14-4, 1NC) vs. Thiago Jambo (18-4)
Brandon Halsey (9-1) vs. John Salter (11-3)
Chris Honeycutt (7-1) vs. Mikkel Parlo (13-2)
Preliminary Card: (Bellator.com – 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT)
A.J. Matthews (8-4) vs. Ben Reiter (16-1)
Jermaine McDermott (2-0) vs. Blake Watkins (5-0)
Paul Ruiz (6-4) vs. Christian Navarro (5-0)
Javy Ayala (8-5) vs. Roy Boughton (14-7)
Nick Bustamante (5-1) vs. Antoine Smith (3-5)
C.J. Keith (8-3) vs. Carrington Banks (4-0)
Justin Smitley (10-7) vs. TBD
John Paul Elias (3-0) vs. Jose Cabesas (5-8)
Chris Lewis (0-0) vs. Gil Medina (1-0)
Luis Jauregui (3-2) vs. Ryan Tobar (3-2)