A pair of fights have been added to the preliminary card for Bellator’s return to Oklahoma later this month.
[autotag]Gaston Bolanos[/autotag] (5-2 MMA, 5-2 BMMA) takes on [autotag]Solo Hatley Jr.[/autotag] (7-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) in a featherweight bout at Bellator 239. In addition, [autotag]Kyle Crutchmer[/autotag] (5-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) is set to meet [autotag]Scott Futrell[/autotag] (11-9 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) in a 175-pound contract weight fight, a Bellator official told MMA Junkie on Wednesday.
Bellator 239 takes place Feb. 21 at WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Okla. The main card airs on Paramount and streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
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Bolanos will be looking to get back on track after a submission loss to Daniel Carey at Bellator 226 this past September. That setback snapped a four-fight winning streak of knockouts, all under the Bellator banner.
Hatley has a pair of LFA fights on his resume, including a first-round TKO of TeeJay Britton. But after that, he suffered a 25-second knockout loss to Austin Lingo at LFA 72 this past August. Lingo will make his UFC debut this Saturday. In November, Hatley rebounded with a decision win under the Pyramid Fights banner and now gets the call for his Bellator debut.
Crutchmer, an Oklahoma native who was an All-American wrestling standout at Oklahoma State, made his promotional debut in Thackerville this past November with a decision win over short-notice opponent Robert Gidron at Bellator 233. Since turning pro after college, he has trained at American Kickboxing Academy with fellow former OSU standout Daniel Cormier as his wrestling coach.
The St. Louis-based Futrell will attempt to snap a three-fight skid that started with a first-round submission loss to Mike Shipman at Bellator 210 in what was his promotional debut. In 2019, he suffered second-round stoppage setbacks in a Shamrock Showdown event, and to Jason Jackson at LFA 64.
With the additions, the Bellator 239 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (Paramount, DAZN, 9 p.m. ET)
- Ed Ruth vs. Yaroslav Amosov
- Brandon Girtz vs. Myles Jury
- Tyrell Fortune vs. Timothy Johnson
- Javy Ayala vs. Valentin Moldavsky
PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie, 7 p.m. ET)
- Steve Mowry vs. Rudy Schaffroth
- Shamil Nikaev vs. Bobby Lee
- Cris Lencioni vs. Salim Mukhidinov
- Denise Kielholtz vs. Kristina Williams
- Lucas Brennan vs. Jamese Taylor
- Adil Benjilany vs. Kevin Croom
- Chris Gonzalez vs. Aaron McKenzie
- Christian Edwards vs. Marco Hutch
- Mark Lemminger vs. Carlo Pedersoli Jr.
- Shawn Bunch vs. Keith Lee
- Teejay Britton vs. Gabriel Varga
- Grant Neal vs. Claude Wilcox
- Davion Franklin vs. J.W. Kiser
- Gaston Bolanos vs. Solo Hatley Jr.
- Kyle Crutchmer vs. Scott Futrell – 175-pound contract weight
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