Bellator season sevens lightweight tournament final was supposed to conclude with Marcin Held (15-2) against Dave Jansen (18-2) tonight but the fight is now off.
Marcin Held is only 20 years old (turns 21 on January 18, 2013) and the casino requires everyone to be over 21 regardless. Bellator will be looking to reschedule this fight sometime in season eight.
TheMMAReport’s Jason Floyd was able to confirm this report and Dave Jansen also tweeted during the broadcast:
The fight has indeed been called off. I’m not mad but I am a bit disappointed. I still get my show money. #GlassHalfFull
— Dave Jansen (@DaveJansen155) December 15, 2012
Following the conclusion of the fight card, Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney was asked in the post fight press conference to explain what happened.
“We’d made disclosures to the commission of his age 20,” Rebney said. “We were cognizant of the rule. We got an alert just before we were going to start that a higher authority in the gaming commission was disallowing what was previously allowed. It was disappointing and unexpected.”
Bellator will now look to reschedule this fight in season eight, which will begin on January 17th. With most of their cards already filled up in the beginning of the season, Rebney said the earliest the fight will take place will be the sixth or seventh show of 2013.