Bellator 71: Fight Card for Light Heavyweight Tournament Quarterfinals

Bellator Fighting Championships has announced the fight card for  Bellator 71 and the start of the Bellator Summer Series Light Heavyweight Tournament. This card is set to take place at The Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in Chester, West Virginia on Friday, June 22 and will be broadcast on MTV2. Featuring a main card that includes Travis Wiuff vs. Chris Davis and Attila Vegh vs. Zelg Galesic; Bellator 71 will host the promotion’s debut of Brett Rogers.

As we reported last week, Brett Rogers will make his Bellator debut against Kevin Asplund in a heavyweight bout. Although both men were once training partners and close friends, according to a press release from Bellator, they are eager to fight each other next week.

The Bellator Summer Series Light Heavyweight Tournament Quarterfinals are now complete as Roy Boughton will face “The Hardcore Kid” Emanuel Newton. Boughton joins Bellator with a record of 8-2, including wins over “Ninja” Rua and Misha Cirkunov. The Concord, California, native trains at the world renowned Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Newton is coming in off of a five-fight win streak. This should be an interesting fight as I have seen both fighters in action at Shark Fights 18 in Sparks, Nevada, where both men won their bouts: Boughton on the undercard by TKO and Newton in the Main Event by decision.

The preliminary card will kick off with a pair of undefeated lightweights, as four-time Bellator veteran E.J. Brooks will face Ohio’s Joey Holt.     

After stopping Plinio Cruz and Daniel Gracie in his two previous Bellator appearances, Duane Bastress will take on Jason Butcher in a match at 185 pounds. Butcher, has just made the drop from light heavyweight to middleweight.                 

Rounding out the card, light heavyweights Dan “The Dragon” Spohn and Josh Stansbury will meet in a highly-anticipated rematch. Back in November of 2009, Spohn submitted Stansbury in his professional debut.  

Main Card to air on MTV2:

Light Heavyweight Tournament Quarterfinal Fight: Travis Wiuff (66-14) vs. Chris Davis (10-3)

Light Heavyweight Tournament Quarterfinal Fight: Attila Vegh (25-4-2) vs. Zelg Galesic (11-6)

Light Heavyweight Tournament Quarterfinal Fight: Roy Boughton (8-2) vs. Emanuel Newton (17-6)

Light Heavyweight Tournament Quarterfinal Fight: Beau Tribolet (7-1) vs. Richard Hale (19-4-1)

Heavyweight Feature Fight: Brett Rogers (11-4) vs. Kevin Asplund (15-1)

Preliminary Card to stream on Spike.com:

Light Heavyweight Feature Fight:  Dan Spohn (6-2) vs. Josh Stansbury (3-2)  

Light Heavyweight Feature Fight: Tim Carpenter (8-1) vs. John Hawk (7-4)

Middleweight Feature Fight: Jason Butcher (3-0) vs. Duane Bastress (5-1)

Featherweight Feature Fight: Neil Johnson (6-4) vs. Brylan Van Artsdalen (6-3)

Lightweight Feature Fight: E.J. Brooks (7-0) vs. Joey Holt (3-0)