Bellator 96 is scheduled to take place on June 19, 2013 at the Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. The event will be distributed live in prime time by Spike TV. It will mark the season debut of the 2013 summer series.



Fight Card

Main Card (Spike TV)

Light Heavyweight Muhammed Lawal vs. Seth Petruzelli Light Heavyweight Tournament Semifinal
Light Heavyweight Renato Sobral vs. Jacob Noe Light Heavyweight Tournament Semifinal
Heavyweight Ryan Martinez vs. Richard Hale Heavyweight Tournament Semifinal
Heavyweight Ron Sparks vs. Vitaly Minakov Heavyweight Tournament Semifinal
Welterweight War Machine vs. Blas Avena

Preliminary Card (Spike.com)

Heavyweight Raphael Butler vs. Karl Etherington
Light Heavyweight Volkan Oezdemir vs. Joe Yager
Light Heavyweight Mikey Brown vs. Brandon Halsey
Bantamweight Steven Artoff vs. Justin McNally
Lightweight Damon Jackson vs. Keith Miner
Bantamweight Mike Maldonado vs. Jason Sampson
Catchweight Brandon Girtz vs. Treston Thomison
Middleweight Keith Berry vs. Cortez Coleman



Background

Bellator 96 is expected to featured the opening round of the 2013 Summer Series Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight tournaments.

Michael Chandler was expected to defend his Lightweight Title against Dave Jansen on this card. However, on June 2, it was announced that Jansen had to pull out of the bout due to an injury.

Vinicius Queiroz was originally scheduled to face Richard Hale in the heavyweight tournament. Queiroz, however, suffered a knee injury and was replaced Ryan Martinez.


June 10 - updated fightcard & background
June 19 - updated fightcard & background

June 10 - updated fightcard & background

June 19 - updated fightcard & background