Kicking off a busy doubleheader weekend for Bellator MMA is Bellator 239, and all but two fighters made weight successfully for the Winstar World Casino event.
The Thackerville, Oklahoma, card is headlined by an intriguing welterweight matchup between Ed Ruth (8-1) and Yaroslav Amosov (22-0). Ruth rebounded from his submission defeat to Neiman Gracie by beating Kiichi Kunimoto and Jason Jackson in his last two bouts. The former Penn State wrestler will look to show off his skills and get into title contention with a big win here. “Easy” had no trouble making weight and came in at 170.9 pounds.
Amosov posts an impressive unbeaten record and has looked great against veteran opposition in Bellator so far. The Ukrainian fighter won decisions over Gerald Harris and Erick Silva and submitted David Rickels in his last bout. He’ll look to cement himself as one of the best prospects in the world at the expense of Ruth. “Dynamo” looked prepared on the scales and weighed in at 170.1 pounds.
The Bellator 239 main card will air live Friday on the Paramount Network and Dazn starting at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Prelims will be aired on Dazn and YouTube beginning at 6:15 p.m. ET/3:15 p.m. PT.
Ed Ruth (170.9) vs. Yaroslav Amosov (170.1)
Myles Jury (155.5) vs. Brandon Girtz (155.1)
Tyrell Fortune (245) vs. Timothy Johnson (262.9)
Javy Ayala (261.6) vs. Valentin Moldavsky (229.6)
Christian Edwards (206) vs. DiMarcco Hutchison (200.4)
Keith Lee (136) vs. Shawn Bunch (135.4)
Gabriel Varga (145.7) vs. Terry Britton (145.4)
Denise Kielholtz (122) vs. Kristina Williams (125.1)
Gaston Bolanos (145.8) vs. Chris Hatley (145.3)
Josh Hill (134.7) vs. Vinicius Zani (134.5)
Grant Neal (204.8) vs. Claude Wilcox (204.6)
Kyle Crutchmer (174.9) vs. Scott Futrell (177.9)*
Cris Lencioni (145.4) vs. Salim Mukhidinov (145.4)
Adil Benjilany (144.9) vs. Kevin Croom (145.6)
Lucas Brennan (145.5) vs. Jamese Taylor (148.2)**
Christopher Gonzalez (155.3) vs. Aaron McKenzie (155.8)
J.W. Kiser (222.8) vs. Davion Franklin (263.1)
* Futrell missed weight by 1.9 pounds and has been fined 20 percent of his purse.
** Taylor missed weight by 2.2 pounds and has been fined 20 percent of his purse.