Bellator Fighting Championships has reportedly set the pairings for the season four light heavyweight tournament semifinals, which will take place as part of the Bellator 42 card.
Meeting in the semifinals will be Richard Hale (16-3-1) vs. D.J. Linderman (9-1) and Tim Carpenter (7-0) vs. Christian M’Pumbu (16-3-1).
Hale reported the pairings to MMAjunkie.com on Monday.
Bellator 42 will take place on April 23 at the Lucky Star Casino in Concho, Oklahoma. The tournament semifinal bouts will take place on the live MTV2 broadcast portion of the fight card. The 205 pound fighters are competing to become the first Bellator light heavyweight champ and a $100,000 payday.
The tournament semifinalists earned their way into the next round by winning their respective bouts this past weekend at Bellator 38 in Tunica, Mass.
Hale had the most impressive win by using an inverted triangle choke, just the second to happen under the Bellator banner, to submit Nik Fekete in the first round. If you haven’t seen the vide, we’ve got it HERE for you to check out. His opponent, Linderman, earned his way in by defeating tournament favorite Raphael Davis in the third round via TKO.
Carpenter remained unbeaten by earning a split decision over Daniel Gracie. While opponent, M’Pumbu also fought into the third round, but stopped Chris Davis by TKO at 3:34 to move onto the semifinals.