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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Bellator MMA has announced their first official summer series event on Spike TV, which will kick off from the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma on Wednesday, June 19.
The event will be headlined by a Lightweight Championship bout between Michael Chandler and tournament winner Dave Jansen, and the main card will begin at 7PM ET on Spike TV.
"I'm excited to get back in the cage and defend the belt against a tough guy like Jansen," Chandler said. "He's proven to be a very tough and durable competitor. My plan is the same as every fight, which is to show up new and improved and collect another dominant finish for the fans."
The Champ brings an undefeated 11-0 mark into his second Bellator title defense after submitting Rick Hawn in January. He'll take on Jansen, who enters on a six-fight winning streak.
"I really want this fight to be an absolute grind and make Mike as uncomfortable as possible inside that cage," Jansen said. "I've been known in my career to really be able to weather the storm and I really feel like I get stronger inside the cage as the fight goes on, and I'm really looking forward to having that full 25 minutes to work with and take this fight in deep waters. This is just an incredible opportunity for me and would a huge validation on my career to become a Bellator World Champion."
In addition to that title fight, the four man summer light heavyweight tournament will kick off as well, with Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal against Seth Petruzelli, and Renato "Babalu" Sobral against Jacob Noe.
"Seth has been in this game for a long time and has beaten guys like Kimbo, Ricco Rodriguez and Dan Severn so this fight is going to be tough, but I've been working my ass off in the gym with Jeff Mayweather and my team and I'm ready to get another win under my belt," Mo said. "Point blank, I'm looking to deliver a straight Mortal Kombat style fatality to Seth."
Finally, controversial welterweight War Machine will fight for the first time in Bellator, and the first time since serving a lengthy jail sentence, when he takes on Blas Avena.
"This event is insanely stacked," Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. "With a Lightweight Title fight, Mo, Babalu, and War Machine, this is going to be an amazing show start to finish on Spike."
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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