Bellator 159: Caldwell vs. Taimanglo will be held on July 22, 2016 at the Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kansas. The event will air live in prime time on Spike TV.
Official fight card
Fight card
Catchweight (138 lbs) Darrion Caldwell vs. Joe Taimanglo
Catchweight (158 lbs) Melvin Guillard vs. David Rickels
Women's Flyweight Bruna Vargas vs. Emily Ducote
Featherweight Daniel Weichel vs. Emmanuel Sanchez
Preliminary card (Spike.com)
Light Heavyweight Philipe Lins vs. Guilherme Viana
Women's Flyweight Bruna Ellen vs. Jessica Middleton
Featherweight Gaston Reyno vs. LJ Hermreck
Middleweight Manny Meraz vs. Trey Ogden
Welterweight Chris Harris vs. Matt Foster
Lightweight Marcio Navarro vs. Fernando Martinez
Bantamweight Johnny Marigo vs. Andy Riley
Middleweight Josh Pfeifer vs. Henry Lindsay
Catchweight (146.2 lbs) Chuka Willis vs. Brandon Phillips
Background
The event is headlined by a Lightweight title eliminator fight between former UFC champion Benson Henderson And former Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Freire
Henderson, after being upset in his April debut against welterweight champion Andrey Koreshkov, returns to the division where he twice defeated Frankie Edgar. He’s also beaten former UFC title challengers Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone.
Freire, seeking to parlay the victory to a title shot against lightweight champion Michael Chandler, who claimed the belt by knocking out Freire’s brother, Patricky, on June 24
Four-time NCAA Division champion wrestler Joey Davis will make his professional MMA debut at Bellator 160, As an amateur he had a record of 5-0.
Davis, 21, recently graduated from Notre Dame University, where he accumulated an undefeated 131-0 record over the course of four seasons during his collegiate wrestling career. He is the only Division II wrestler in NCAA history to win four consecutive national titles, and is one of three wrestlers ever to complete a four-year college career with an undefeated record, joining Cael Sanderson (Division I) and Marcus LeVesseur (Division III).
Jul 22 - Updated fight card & background