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here and live stream 100+ fight nights a year. Bellator
MMA puts on its first card of August on Friday night, and all
but one fighter has made weight.
Bellator 243 is headlined by a pivotal lightweight fight
between former Bellator champion Michael
Chandler and former
Ultimate Fighting Championship and
World Extreme Cagefighting lightweight king Benson
Henderson. This is the second meeting between the two talented
mixed martial artists, with Chandler (20-5) capturing a split
decision over “Smooth” back in 2016. Since that fight, “Iron Mike”
has dropped the lightweight belt on two separate occasions, against
Brent
Primus – a loss Chandler later avenged — and to current
titleholder Patricio
Freire in first-round TKOs. Since the championship defeat to
Freire, Chandler returned to form with an early knockout of
Sidney
Outlaw in his last bout. Chandler looked prepared on the scales
and officially weighed 155.9 pounds.
Championship gold has eluded Henderson (28-8) inside the Bellator
cage, but a win over Chandler could earn him another title shot.
The standout lightweight is currently on a four-fight win streak
that saw him submit Roger
Huerta and win decisions over Myles Jury,
Adam
Piccolotti and Saad Awad.
Henderson had no issue making weight and came in at 155.6
pounds.
After today’s weigh-ins, the 10-fight card is now official, and
only one fighter missed weight: Mike Hamel
(154.6)*, who came in heavy for his scheduled 150-pound catchweight
fight against Adam Borics
as a
late replacement. He has been fined a percentage of his purse
and the fight will still go ahead as planned.
Bellator 243 will air in its entirety on Dazn with its preliminary
card starting at 7:15 p.m. ET/4:15 p.m. PT. The main card will also
air live on the Paramount Network, kicking off at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m.
PT.
Bellator 243 Weigh-in Results:
Michael
Chandler (155.9) vs. Benson
Henderson (155.6)
Matt
Mitrione (263.2) vs. Timothy
Johnson (262.6)
Myles
Jury (155.5) vs. Georgi
Karakhanyan (155.5)
Curtis
Millender (174) vs. Sabah
Homasi (175)
Adam
Borics (150.2) vs. Mike Hamel
(154.6)*
A.J.
Agazarm (145.3) vs. Cris
Lencioni (145.8)
Nainoa
Dung (155.1) vs. Charlie
Campbell (155.8)
Grant
Neal (204.7) vs. Hamza Salim
(205.1)
Dalton
Rosta (185.7) vs. Mark
Gardner (184.8)
Tara
Graff (125) vs. Valerie
Loureda (125.3)
* Hamel came in 3.6 pounds heavy for his 150-pound catchweight
contest and has been fined a percentage of his purse.