Genre Sports Country of origin United States Original network MTV 2 | Created by Bjorn Rebney Running time 120 minutes | |
Original release June 22 – August 24, 2012 | ||
Bellator Fighting Championships: 2012 Summer Series was the second installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships Summer Series which started on June 22, 2012. A mixed martial arts tournament was held in the Light Heavyweight weight class.
Contents
Bellator 71
Bellator 71 was an mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on June 22, 2012 at the Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort in Chester, West Virginia. The card was part of Bellator's annual Summer Series and featured the opening round fights in the Summer Series Light Heavyweight Tournament. The event was distributed live in prime time by EPIX and online at SpikeTV.com.
Background
A preliminary bout between E.J. Brooks and Joey Holt was originally announced by the promotion. However, the bout failed to materialize.
Richard Hale was supposed to face Beau Tribolet in the Tournament Quarterfinal, but was not cleared to compete so Tim Carpenter (who originally was supposed to face John Hawk) stepped in as a last minute replacement.
Results
Bellator 72
Bellator 72 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on July 20, 2012 at USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida. The card was part of Bellator's annual Summer Series and featured the semifinal round fights in the Summer Series Tournament. The event was distributed live in prime time by EPIX and MTV2.
Background
Paul Daley made his promotional debut at this event against Rudy Bears in a welterweight fight.
Marius Žaromskis and Waachiim Spiritwolf competed in a rematch - their third fight together - following a controversial doctor stoppage in their previous Bellator fight in May 2012.
A heavyweight bout between Chris Barnett and Tom Sauer was initially announced by the promotion for this card. However, the bout failed to materialize.
Results
Bellator 73
Bellator 73 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on August 24, 2012 at Harrah's Tunica Hotel and Casino in Tunica, Mississippi. The card was part of Bellator's annual Summer Series and featured the final round fights in the Summer Series Tournament. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
Background
This fight card was to feature Pat Curran making the first defense of his Featherweight title against Bellator season 4 Featherweight tournament winner Patricio Freire. However, on August 14, 2012, it was announced that Curran had suffered an injury and the bout was to be rescheduled for a later date.
The card featured the finals of the season 6 Bantamweight tournament and 2012 Summer Series Light Heavyweight tournament.
Marcus "Lelo" Aurelio was originally supposed to make his promotional debut on this card, but was removed due to an injury. His original opponent, Amaechi Oselukwue, instead met replacement Kelvin Tiller. Additionally, a heavyweight bout between Maurice Jackson and Chris Miller was announced, but failed to materialize.
Results
Light Heavyweight tournament bracket
^ 1: Tim Carpenter replaced Richard Hale.