Bellator 103 heads to Kansas on Oct. 11 for featherweight tourney semifinals

Bellator MMA will make its first visit to Kansas in nearly two years this October.

The promotion has tabbed the Wichita area for what is expected to be Bellator 103, which will feature the semifinals of the Season 9 featherweight tournament. Promotion officials announced the card and location on Friday.

Bellator 103 will take place Oct. 11 at Kansas Star Arena at Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane, just south of Wichita. Tickets for the event are on sale through Ticketmaster and the arena box office. The main card of the event will air on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.

Bellator’s 145-pound tourney opens Sept. 13 at Bellator 99, its second event of the season. The field includes opening-round bouts featuring Patricio Freire (17-2 MMA, 5-2 BFC) vs. Diego Nunes (18-4 MMA, 0-0 BFC), Shahbulat Shamhalaev (12-2-1 MMA, 3-1 BFC) vs. Akop Stepanyan (13-5 MMA, 1-2 BFC), Desmond Green (8-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC) vs. Fabricio Guerreiro and Andrew Fisher (12-4-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC) vs. Joe Taimanglo (18-4 MMA, 1-0 BFC).

Four of those featherweights will punch their ticket to the semifinals in Kansas, and from there, the finalists will meet at Bellator 107 on Nov. 15 at Revel Atlantic City in New Jersey for the $100,000 in total tournament prize money and the chance to fight for Bellator’s featherweight title.

Of the eight featherweights in the tournament field, two have fought for the Bellator title before. Both Freire and Shamhalaev are coming off losses to champ Pat Curran. Nunes will make his debut with the promotion after being released by the UFC, and Green and Fisher make their promotional debuts, as well.

Fights for the card are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

For the latest on Bellator 103, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Diego Nunes)