Bellator 168: Sakara vs Beltran will be held on December 10, 2016 at the Nelson Mandela Forum in Florence, Italy. The event will air live in prime time on Spike TV.
Official fight card
Fight card
Middleweight Alessio Sakara vs. Joey Beltran
Light Heavyweight Philipe Lins vs. Kleber Silva
Middleweight Claudio Annicchiarico vs. John Salter
Lightweight Goiti Yamauchi vs. Valeriu Mircea
Bellator Kickboxing bouts
Women's Flyweight (Kickboxing) Denise Kielholtz vs. Gloria Peritore For the Bellator Kickboxing Female Flyweight Championship.
Lightweight (Kickboxing) Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Jordan Watson
Middleweight (Kickboxing) Joe Schilling vs. Vittorio Iermano
Welterweight (Kickboxing) Karim Ghajji vs. Luca Novello
Bantamweight (Kickboxing) Kevin Ross vs. Alessio Arduini
Background
In the main event, Alessio Sakara faces Joey Beltran. Sakara made his Bellator debut earlier this year at the first Bellator event in Italy and defeated Brian Rogers by knockout in the second round.
The event was originally expected to be headlined by a rematch between Rafael Carvalho and Melvin Manhoef for the Bellator Middleweight Championship. The pair previously fought at Bellator 155 with Carvalho retaining his title due to a controversial split decision. Bellator announcer Jimmy Smith called it one of the worst decisions he had ever seen in the promotion; likewise 5 of 5 media outlets scored the bout in favor of Manhoef.[37] However, on December 2, Carvalho pulled out of the match due to injury.
The event will also feature Bellator Kickboxing bouts including an anticipated female flyweight rematch between Denise Kielholtz and Gloria Peritore, the woman who defeated her this past June. The bout will be for the inaugural Bellator Kickboxing Female Flyweight World Championship.