Bellator 115 lineup complete with 170, 185 tourney semis on main card
The 10-bout lineup for next month’s Bellator 115 event is complete, and the main card now features semifinal bouts in the promotion’s Season 10 welterweight and middleweight tournaments.
Bellator MMA officials recently announced that Andrey Koreshkov (15-1 MMA, 6-1 BMMA) will meet Sam Oropeza (11-2 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) in the 170-pound tournament semifinals on the card, while Dan Cramer (10-4 MMA, 7-2 BMMA) takes on Jeremy Kimball (10-4 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) in the middleweight tourney semis.
Those two bouts are part of a four-fight main card that also sees Bellator heavyweight champ Vitaly Minakov (13-0 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) defend his belt against Cheick Kongo (20-8-2 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) in the main event.
“Bellator 115: Minakov vs. Kongo†takes place April 4 at Reno Events Center in Reno, Nev. The main card airs on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET, with preliminary bouts streaming on Spike.com at 7 p.m. ET.
Cramer and Kimball meet in the four-man middleweight tournament. Kimball gets the fight after Doug Marshall was forced out of the fight with Cramer when his suspension from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission was extended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Koreshkov and Oropeza this past week advanced to the welterweight semifinals with wins at Bellator 112. Koreshkov made quick work of Nah-Shon Burrell, landing a knee to the chin and finishing the UFC vet on the ground, while Oropeza upset capoeira specialist Cristiano Souza with a first-round knockout.
Opening up the main card on Spike TV is a middleweight bout between Johnny Cisneros (8-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), who will make his promotional debut against Mikkel Parlo (11-2 MMA, 3-2 BMMA).
Newly announced preliminary bouts include light heavyweights Kelly Anundson (6-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) vs. Volkan Oezdemir (10-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA); Justin Baesman (14-4 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) vs. Herman Terrado (11-3 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) at welterweight; welterweights Rick Reeves (9-4 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) vs. James Terry (13-6 MMA, 0-0 BMMA); Josh Appelt (10-2 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) vs. Freddie Aquitania (6-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) at heavyweight; lightweights Jason Powell (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) vs. Sinjen Smith (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA); and flyweights Benito Lopez (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) vs. Oscar Ramirez (2-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA).
With the additions to the card, the complete Bellator 115 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (Spike TV, 9 p.m. ET)
Vitaly Minakov vs. Cheick Kongo – for heavyweight title
Andrey Koreshkov vs. Sam Oropeza – welterweight tournament semifinals
Dan Cramer vs. Jeremy Kimball – middleweight tournament semifinals
Johnny Cisneros vs. Mikkel Parlo
PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com, 7 p.m. ET)
Kelly Anundson vs. Volkan Oezdemir
Justin Baesman vs. Herman Terrado
Rick Reeves vs. James Terry
Josh Appelt vs. Freddie Aquitania
Jason Powell vs. Sinjen Smith
Benito Lopez vs. Oscar Ramirez
