The Bellator 2013 Summer Series kicked off on Wednesday night in Oklahoma for Bellator 96 and featured the semifinal bouts in the light heavyweight and heavyweight tournaments.
In the light heavyweight tournament, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal defeated Seth Petruzelli with a one punch knockout that is a likely knockout of the year candidate and Jacob Noe defeated Renato “Babalu” Sobral by TKO in the third round to advance to the tournament final.
The heavyweight tournament also saw both fights end in stoppage as Vitaly Minakov only needed 32 second to defeat Ron Sparks and Ryan Martinez took just over two minutes to defeat Rich Hale to punch their tickets into the tournament final.
Both of these tournament finals are targeted to take place next month from the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico at Bellator 97. The winners of the tournament bouts will secure their title shot and they should get their title shot by the end of 2013.
The current Bellator 97 card is below:
Michael Chandler (11-0) vs. David Rickels (14-1) – Lightweight Title
Ben Askren (11-0) vs. Andrey Koreshkov (13-0) – Welterweight Title
Muhammed Lawal (10-2, 1NC) vs. Jacob Noe (12-2) – LHW Tournament Final
Vitaly Minakov (11-0) vs. Ryan Martinez (10-2) – HW Tournament Final
Patricio Pitbull (17-2) vs. Rob Emerson (12-10)