Rafael Carvalho and Melvin Manhoef was one of the worst fights of 2016, with Carvalho defending his Bellator MMA middleweight title via controversial split decision. The fight was widely panned for its paucity of offense, something seldom uttered in the same sentence as a Melvin Manhoef fight.
With that in mind ... do you want to see it again?
That’s right! Bellator announced on Friday that Carvalho (13-1) and Manhoef (30-13-1, 2 NCs) will go at it again, this time in Florence, Italy, where Bellator 168 will be staged. This will be Carvalho’s 2nd defense of the belt he won when he stopped Brandon Halsey last year, with both coming against Manhoef. At 40 years of age, Manhoef will get another crack at winning his first major MMA title, having been denied by two judges back in May. The Dutchman’s last win was a sensational KO of Hisaki Kato, which earned him his title shot vs. Carvalho.
Also announced for this Saturday, December 10th card is Italy’s own Alessio Sakara (18-11, 2 NC) taking on Joey Beltran (17-13, 1 NC) in a light heavyweight contest. Sakara is coming off a knockout win over Brian Rogers, while Beltran lost a split decision to Chase Gormley in May, in a heavyweight matchup.
Bellator Kickboxing will also be part of the planned MMA-Kickboxing doubleheader, which they did when they were in Torino, Italy earlier in the year. The Bellator Kickboxing main event will see the great Giorgio Petrosyan (82-2-2, 1 NC) go up against England’s Jordan Watson (48-11-2), while the inaugural Bellator Kickboxing flyweight title will also be on the line, as Denise Kielholtz (45-3) rematches Gloria Peritore (11-1-1), the woman who beat her by split decision at Bellator: Dynamite 2 back in June.
Spike TV broadcast details for both Bellator 168 and Bellator Kickboxing will be known at a later date, as well as additional fights for both cards.