Doug Marshall off Bellator 115, Dan Cramer meets Jeremy Kimball in 185 tourney semis

Doug Marshall was expected to compete in Bellator’s Season 10 middleweight tournament, but he’ll remain on the sidelines.

Marshall (18-7 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) was scheduled to fight Dan Cramer (10-4 MMA, 7-2 BMMA) at Bellator 115 next month in the four-man tourney semifinals. But according to Bellator, the Nevada State Athletic Commission chose to extend a suspension handed down to Marshall by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission this past fall.

Marshall was suspended after testing positive for an undisclosed banned substance following his loss to Alexander Shlemenko for the middleweight title. He was suspended until Feb. 7 and fined.

Bellator 115 takes place April 4 at Nevada’s Reno Events Center, with the NSAC overseeing things. The main card airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.

Instead, Cramer now will fight Jeremy Kimball (10-4 MMA, 1-1 BMMA), Bellator announced on Wednesday.

Kimball most recently fought at Bellator 98, where he was stopped in the third round by Perry Filkins via rear-naked choke. That bout was the opening round of the Season 9 middleweight tournament. Coincidentally, Kimball was supposed to fight Cramer on that night, but Cramer had to withdraw with an injury and was replaced by Filkins.

Prior to the loss to Filkins, Kimball had a six-fight winning streak, including a knockout win over Keith Berry in his Bellator debut at Bellator 97 and wins over UFC veterans Drew McFedries and Tom Speer, plus Chidi Nojokuani, the brother of UFC fighter Anthony Njokuani.

Cramer hasn’t fought in more than a year since a third-round knockout loss to Brett Cooper in the Season 8 middleweight tournament semifinals. Prior to that, he was on a 3-0 run, including a win over Brian Rogers in the tourney’s opening round.

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