Bellator 94 card complete with eight prelims, 155 and 205 tourney finals

The Bellator 94 card is complete with eight preliminary-card bouts ahead of three main-card fights that include two tournament finals.

Bellator 94's main event is a 155-pound Season 8 tournament final between Saad Awad (14-4 MMA, 2-1 BFC) and David Rickels (13-1 MMA, 7-1 BFC). The co-feature is the light heavyweight tournament’s final between Emanuel Newton (20-7-1 MMA, 3-1 BFC) and Mikhail Zayats (21-6 MMA, 2-0 BFC).

Bellator 94 takes place March 28 at Sun Dome at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The main card airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.

Awad reached the finals on the strength of back-to-back quick first-round knockouts of Guillaume DeLorenzi (31 seconds) and heavy favorite Will Brooks (43 seconds) at Bellator 87 and 91, respectively. He comes into the finals with a six-fight win streak – all stoppages since his most recent loss, which came nearly two years ago for Strikeforce.

Rickels’ path to the finals came courtesy of unanimous decision wins over Lloyd Woodard and Jason Fishcher, giving him three straight wins since the lone loss of his career, a split-decision setback against eventual tournament winner Karl Amoussou at Bellator 69.

Newton picked up a pair of stoppages in the opening round and semifinals to get his shot at the $100,000 total prize in the light heavyweight tourney. In the opening round, he submitted Atanas Djambazov in the second round. And at Bellator 90 this past month, he scored easily the upset of the year so far with a spinning backfist knockout of heavy favorite Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.

Zayats also has back-to-back tournament stoppages. At Bellator 85, he shut down Renato “Babalu” Sobral with a first-round TKO with just 11 seconds left in the frame. And at Bellator 90, he forced Jacob Noe to tap to an armbar in the first round. Overall, he has seven straight wins in a little more than a year.

Also on the main card, Trey Houston (10-1 MMA, 1-1 BFC) will take on Luis Melo (28-11-3 MMA, 0-0 BFC) in a welterweight bout to open the Spike TV broadcast.

Among the highlights on the preliminary card are a pair of women’s bouts between Heather Clark (5-3 MMA, 0-0 BFC)) and Felice Herrig (8-4 MMA, 2-0 BFC), plus Jessica Aguilar (14-4 MMA, 4-1 BFC) meets Patricia Vidonic (7-4 MMA, 0-1 BFC) in a rematch from a 2012 meeting that Aguilar won by unanimous decision.

The preliminary card also includes a featherweight fight between Shah Bobonis (15-8 MMA, 1-0 BFC)) and Joe Taimanglo (17-4-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC)); heavyweights Rob Horton (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BFC) vs. Augusto Sakai (3-0 MMA, 0-0 BFC); Strikeforce and EliteXC veteran Edson Berto (16-10-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC) vs. DREAM vet Bruno Carvalho (8-2 MMA, 0-0 BFC) in a lightweight bout; Ivan Devalle (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BFC) vs. Rory Shallcross (2-5 MMA, 0-0 BFC) at welterweight; 155-pounders Patrick Cenoble (9-2 MMA, 0-0 BFC) and UFC, WEC and Strikeforce vet Tony Fryklund (14-9 MMA, 0-0 BFC); and Kenny Moss (5-3 MMA, 0-1 BFC) vs. Julien Williams (3-1 MMA, 1-0 BFC) at 170 pounds.

The complete Bellator 94 card includes:

MAIN CARD (10 p.m. ET, Spike TV)

• Saad Awad vs. David Rickels – lightweight tournament finals
• Emanuel Newton vs. Mikhail Zayats – light heavyweight tournament finals
• Trey Houston vs. Luis Melo

PRELIMINARY CARD (8 p.m. ET, Spike.com)

• Shah Bobonis vs. Joe Taimanglo
• Heather Clark vs. Felice Herrig
• Jessica Aguilar vs. Patricia Vidonic
• Rob Horton vs. Augusto Sakai
• Edson Berto vs. Bruno Carvalho
• Ivan Devalle vs. Rory Shallcross
• Patrick Cenoble vs. Tony Fryklund
• Kenny Moss vs. Julien Williams

For more on Bellator 94, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Emanuel Newton)