TEL AVIV, ISRAEL. (Nov. 10, 2016) – All fighters successfully made weight for Israel’s first major mixed martial arts event “Bellator 164: Koreshkov vs. Lima” which takes place inside of Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv, Israel. The historic event airs FREE on SPIKE Friday, November 11 at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT.
The stacked main card is headlined by a must-see welterweight world title main event pitting current champion Andrey Koreshkov (19-1) against Douglas Lima (27-6). In addition, a pair of featherweight matchups pitting hometown favorite Noad Lahat (9-2) against Scott Cleve (15-5) and Georgi Karakhanyan (25-6-1) against Kirill Medvedovsky (6-1) will also be featured on the Spike-televised main card. Lastly, Ukrainian sensation Lena Ovchynnikova (10-4) returns in a female flyweight contest with Karla Benitez (13-9-1).
Scott Coker on the groundbreaking Bellator event in Israel: “This event started about 18 months ago when we came over here to say hello to our international partners Annaney Communications and EGO TOTAL. We sat down with them and they said ‘Hey, there are a lot of great martial artists here. Why don’t we go meet with some of the gyms?’ So, we went to some of the gyms across Tel Aviv where they hosted a nice tryout. We had about 60-70 athletes participate and Royce (Gracie) would say ‘I think this guy could be good. I think this girl could be good. I think that these are some of the talented fighters that you could bring into Bellator.’ From there we started talking about the venues, and talking about the infrastructure of how we could pull of an event of this magnitude here in this city. We have put together an amazing team of people out here that have done a great job helping make this possible. I’ve been in the fight business for 31 years now, promoting fights all over the world, but this is one that is really a big feather in our cap. I’m really, really excited to be here in Israel promoting our inaugural event, and we already have a date set for next year. We will be back, and we’d like to make this an annual stop for the company.
Main Card: (Free on SPIKE – 9 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. CT)
Welterweight World Title Fight: Andrey Koreshkov (169.8 lbs.) vs. Douglas Lima (170 lbs.)
Featherweight Co-Main Event: Noad Lahat (145.8 lbs.) vs. Scott Cleve (145.8 lbs.)
150 lb, catchweight Feature Bout: Georgi Karakhanyan (149.5 lbs.) vs. Kirill Medvedovsky (151 lbs.)
Flyweight Feature Bout: Lena Ovchynnikova (123.5 lbs.) vs. Karla Benitez (124.5 lbs.)
Preliminary Card
Welterweight Preliminary Fight: Joaquin Buckley (170.5 lbs.) vs. Jackie Gosh (170.8 lbs.)
Light Heavyweight Preliminary Fight: Chen Shhori (205 lbs.) vs. Kfir Eittan (205 lbs.)
Welterweight Preliminary Fight: Haitham Kiuof (170.3 lbs.) vs. Moshe Rand (173 lbs.)
Lightweight Preliminary Fight: Rob Becker (155.5 lbs.) vs. Ejargew Tariku (155.2 lbs.)
Welterweight Preliminary Fight: Sol Renato (170.5 lbs.) vs. Alex Trofimov (170.3 lbs.)
Bantamweight Preliminary Fight: Almog Shay (136 lbs.) vs. Vitaly Khmeinytsky (136 lbs.)
Lightweight Preliminary Fight: Olga Rubin (145.8 lbs.) vs. Laurita Cibirite (140.5 lbs.)
Bantamweight Preliminary Fight: Raz Bring (134.8 lbs.) vs. Maor Kazalkopy (135.5 lbs.)
Middleweight Preliminary Fight: Alexander Nikulin (183.8 lbs.) vs. Avi Baron (182.8 lbs.)
Bantamweight Preliminary Fight: Onor Keles (137.5 lbs.) vs. Omri Barel (135 lbs.)
Welterweight Preliminary Fight: Zane Clerk (170.8 lbs.) vs. Haim Gozali (170 lbs.)
Featherweight Preliminary Fight: Igor Postnikov (144.5 lbs.) vs. Itai Gayer (143 lbs.)
