Shlemenko-Marshall, Volkov-Minakov title fights swap places at Bellator 108, 109

Bellator has pulled a switch, and the title fights at the upcoming Bellator 108 and Bellator 109 shows have swapped places.

Bellator 108, in addition to featuring the Bellator debut of Quinton Jackson vs. Joey Beltran, now will host a heavyweight title fight between champion Alexander Volkov (19-3 MMA, 3-0 BMMA and tournament winner Vitaly Minakov (12-0 MMA, 3-0 BMMA), a fight that had been slated for Bellator 109. And the middleweight title fight between champ Alexander Shlemenko (48-7 MMA, 9-1 BMMA)and tourney winner Doug Marshall (18-6 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) will move from its original home at Bellator 108 to the season finale at Bellator 109 a week later.

No official reason was given for the switch, although a release from the promotion mentioned Shlemenko’s “grueling” Sept. 7 title defense against Brett Cooper at Bellator 98.

Bellator 108 takes place Nov. 15 at Ovation Hall at Revel Atlantic City. The main card airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike TV. And Bellator 109 takes place Nov. 22 at Sands Event Center in Bethlehem, Pa., with the same broadcast plans.

Bellator 108, in addition to the aforementioned “Rampage”-Beltran fight and heavyweight title fight, also features the SEason 9 featherweight tournament final between Patricio Freire and Justin Wilcox. Bellator 109, in addition to the middleweight title fight, features a pair of tourney finals as Will Brooks meets Tiger Sarnavskiy at lightweight and Rick Hawn takes on Ron Keslar for the welterweight tournament title.

Volkov beat Richard Hale by unanimous decision in December 2012 to win the vacant heavyweight title after previous champ Cole Konrad retired after holding the belt for nearly two years. That win wrapped up the Season 7 tournament title for him after beating Brett Rogers in the opening round and stopping Vinicius Queiroz in the second round of the semifinals.

Volkov will go into the fight with a 10-fight winning streak. Before signing with Bellator in 2012, all his wins came in his home country of Russia.

Minakov debuted with the promotion at Bellator 79, stopping Vladimir Starcencov in the second round. He then got a spot in the 2013 “Summer Series” four-man heavyweight tournament, where he stopped Ron Sparks in just 32 seconds at Bellator 96, then stopped Ryan Martinez in the third round at Bellator 97 to punch his ticket to the title fight against Volkov.

Shlemenko and Marshall were initially slated to fight at Bellator 98, but Marshall was forced off the card with an injury. Shlemenko instead fought replacement Cooper and earned a unanimous-decision victory. The Russian, who won the vacant title in February with a knockout victory over Maiquel Falcao, has now won 11 consecutive fights. He’s currently ranked No. 14 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA middleweight rankings.

Marshall earned the title shot by winning the Season 8 tournament with knockout wins over Andreas Spang and Cooper, as well as a split decision over Sultan Aliev. The former WEC champion has now won four consecutive bouts and five of his past six. Five of his six victories have come via knockout.

With the changes, the complete Bellator 108 main card now includes:

MAIN CARD (Spike TV, 9 p.m. ET)

• Joey Beltran vs. Quinton Jackson – 210-pound catchweight fight
• Alexander Volkov vs. Vitaly Minakov – for heavyweight title
• Patricio Freire vs. Justin Wilcox – Season 9 featherweight tournament final
• Marcos Galvao vs. Tom McKenna

And the main card for Bellator 109 includes:

MAIN CARD (Spike TV, 9 p.m. ET)

• Alexander Shlemenko vs. Doug Marshall – for middleweight title
• Will Brooks vs. Tiger Sarnavskiy – Season 9 lightweight tournament final
• Rick Hawn vs. Ron Keslar – Season 9 welterweight tournament final
• Matt Riddle vs. Nathan Coy
• Terry Etim vs. Patrick Cenbole

For the latest on Bellator 108 and Bellator 109, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Alexander Shlemenko)