Rickels Leap Frogs Jansen Due to ACL Injury; Rickels vs. Chandler Now July 31st Live on Spike

Newport Beach, CA. (June 2, 2013) – After preparing for the biggest fight of his already impressive career, Dave Jansen’s title shot will be put on hold as the Oregon native has suffered an ACL injury that will keep the submission ace sidelined indefinitely. Originally slated to face reigning Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler on June 19^th, Chandler will instead face Season 8 Lightweight Tournament Champion David Rickels July 31^st from The Santa Ana Star Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“I’m already back in the gym getting ready for the biggest test of my career,” Rickels said. “I was prepared for another few months off with Jansen already in line for his title shot, but when I got the news I was pumped because I got to enjoy myself for a while after the tournament, but now I’m ready to fight for that belt. Chandler is going to bring a huge challenge, but I know I need to focus on my takedown defense, and just push the pace. I’ve got to hurt Mike early, let him know I’m not playing around. I think he fights off of confidence more than anything else, so I’m looking to put a lot of doubt into his head early in this fight. Either way, I just can’t wait until July 31^st.”

“It was just sort of a freak injury that happened in grappling, I heard a pop and after visiting the doctor, my fears were confirmed,” Jansen said. “It’s really devastating to me knowing I was so close to getting my shot, but I talked to Bjorn and the Bellator team and they confirmed I’ll be getting my title shot when I’m healthy and ready to go, so I’m going to recover and train as hard as I ever have, and hopefully when I get back into the cage it’s more rewarding than ever.”

Please see the below for the most up to date fight schedules:

Bellator Light Heavyweight Tournament: King Mo Lawal (9-2) vs. Seth Petruzelli (14-7)

Bellator Light Heavyweight Tournament: Renato “Babalu” Sobral (37-10) vs. Jacob Noe (11-2)

Bellator Heavyweight Tournament: Vitaly Minakov (10-0) vs. Ron Sparks (8-1)

Welterweight Feature Fight: War Machine (12-4) vs. Blas Avena (8-6)

Bellator Heavyweight Tournament: Vinicius “Spartan” Queiroz (6-3) vs. Rich Hale (21-5)

Bellator Lightweight Title Fight: Michael Chandler (11-0) vs. David Rickels (14-1)

Bellator Welterweight Title Fight: Ben Askren (11-0) vs. Andrey Koreshkov (13-0)

Bellator Welterweight Tournament Finals: Douglas Lima (24-5) vs. Ben Saunders (16-5-2)

Bellator Light Heavyweight Tournament Finals: TBD vs. TBD

Bellator Featherweight Feature Fight: Patricio Pitbull (17-2) vs. Rob Emerson (12-10)

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA, follow Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney @BjornRebney and check out Bellator on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BellatorMMA           

Bellator MMA is the world’s largest tournament based Mixed Martial Arts organization. Televised to nearly 500 Million homes worldwide in over 107 countries, Bellator’s majority owner is entertainment giant Viacom.  In the United States, Bellator can be seen on Spike TV, the MMA television leader. With over 150 world-class athletes under contract, Bellator is home to many of the sport’s top mixed martial artists. Bellator’s founder & CEO, Bjorn Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and entertainment executive with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes.  Bellator’s core philosophy is that title shots should be earned, not given. This belief gave rise to Bellator’s real sport, tournament-based format, which gives Bellator’s tournaments a true playoff feel that keeps the sport true and distances itself from the subjective side of fighting sports found in organizations that utilize a matchmaking/casting formula.  Bellator MMA is comprised of an executive team that includes top industry professionals in television production, live event orchestration, fighter development/relations, venue procurement, sponsorship creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising, publicity and commission relations.  Bellator is based in Newport Beach, California.

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