Bellator 156 will take place on Friday night at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California and will be headlined by a rematch as Marcos Galvao defends the Bellator bantamweight title against former Bellator champion Eduardo Dantas.
Along with the title fight, the main card on Spike will feature Chidi Njokuani looking to go to 2-0 in Bellator as he meets Thiago Jambo in a welterweight bout.
Check out a breakdown of the four fights that will be on the main card broadcast on Spike.
The current Bellator 156: Galvao vs. Dantas II fight card is below.
Marcos Galvao (17-6-1) vs. Eduardo Dantas (17-4)
Galvao won the Bellator bantamweight title last year when he submitted Joe Warren at Bellator 135. This will be his first title defense and he will be looking to even up the score against Dantas, who defeated him by knockout at Bellator 89 in 2013.
- Six of his seven wins in Bellator have come at bantamweight (win over Thomas Vazquez was catchweight bout) and is currently tied with Dantas and Zach Makovsky for most wins in Bellator bantamweight division history.
- Has won six of his last seven fights and the only defeat during this time period was against Dantas at Bellator 89.
- Currently on a four fight winning streak and three of those wins have come by stoppage (2 TKO, 1 Submission).
Dantas lost the Bellator bantamweight title in October of 2014 at Bellator 128 against Warren and enters this fight following a decision victory against Mike Richman. If he is able to defeat Galvao on Friday, he will become the fifth fighter in Bellator history to be a two-time champion.
- Currently tied with Galvao for the most TKO/KO wins and tied with Makovsky and Darrion Caldwell for the most submission wins in Bellator bantamweight division.
- Tied with multiple fighters for the third most wins in Bellator title fights.
- Holds a victory over current UFC flyweight title challenge Wilson Reis (knockout at Bellator 51).
Chidi Njokuani (14-4, 1NC) vs. Thiago Jambo (18-4, 1NC)
Njokuani won his Bellator debut last year against Ricky Rainey at Bellator 146 and he is unbeaten in his last six fights. During his unbeaten streak (5-0, 1NC), four of the wins have come by decision and one of those victories came against Gilbert Smith at RFA 22.
- Since losing to current UFC welterweight Brandon Thatch, Njokuani has won nine of his last eleven fights (9-1, 1NC).
- Eight of his fourteen wins have come by TKO/KO, including a knockout victory against current UFC welterweight Alan Jouban at Tachi Palace Fights 9 in 2011.
- Undefeated when the fight goes to the scorecards (5-0).
Jambo will be making his Bellator debut and was initially scheduled to meet Rainey on the preliminary card. However, he was elevated to the co-main event when Douglas Lima was moved to next month’s Bellator 158 and Jambo has won six of his last seven fights.
- Seven of his eighteen victories have come by stoppage and four of those wins have come by TKO/KO.
- This will be his fight fight in 378 days as he is coming off a victory against Matt Baker at WSOF 21.
- His last three wins have come by TKO/KO.
Brandon Halsey (9-1) vs. John Salter (11-3)
Halsey was stripped of the Bellator middleweight title last year after missing weight for his title defense against Kendall Grove and he enters this fight following a knockout lost to Rafael Carvalho in a vacant title fight. Since losing the title, Halsey has made changes in his career including new management and training at a new gym.
- Holds the fastest win in Bellator title fight history with his submission win in 35-seconds against Alexander Shlemenko at Bellator 126.
- The submission win over Shlemenko is also the third fastest submission in Bellator middleweight division history.
- Currently tied with multiple fighters for the second most submission wins in Bellator middleweight division history.
Salter made his Bellator debut in the beginning of last year and scored a submission victory over Dustin Jacoby at Bellator 132. It was his third win in a row and this will be his first fight since scoring that victory.
- Won six of his last seven fights and all of those wins have come by stoppage (3 TKO/KO, 3 Submissions).
- All of his wins have come by TKO/KO (6) or Submission (5) and he has never gone the distance in his career.
- Holds submission wins via armbar, rear-naked choke and triangle choke.
Chris Honeycutt (7-1) vs. Mikkel Parlo (13-2)
After five fights in the Bellator welterweight division, Honeycutt is moving up to middleweight. While his days at welterweight may not be over according to Honeycutt, he will be testing the waters at middleweight in Bellator and this will be his first fight at middleweight since 2014.
- Two of his three wins in Bellator have come by TKO.
- Five of his seven wins have come by stoppage (4 TKO/KO, 1 Submission).
- His only win by submission came in his second pro fight against Richard Blake in 2013.
Parlo is returning to the Bellator cage after scoring a victory outside of the promotion in November. He enters this fight with back to back victories and has won four of his last five fights.
- This will be the first fight in Bellator for Parlo since defeating Johnny Cisneros at Bellator 115 (4/4/14).
- Eight of his thirteen wins have come by stoppage with seven of those victories coming by TKO/KO.
- His last four wins have come by decision and his last stoppage win came in 2012 against Jared Combs in his Bellator debut.
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)