In the Cage – ‘Babalu’ Retires, Tourney Finals at Bellator 97, PPV for Invicta FC

Each day, The MMA Corner will provide a recap of results, event announcements, fight match-ups, and injuries/cancellations from throughout the world of MMA.

After losing to Jacob Noe last night at Bellator 96, Renato Sobral has retired from mixed martial arts.

“Babalu’s” career began back in 1997, where he won three fights in one night, which was common for its time.  It wasn’t until 2000 until he suffered his first loss in thirteen fights, a majority decision to Dan Henderson.  From there, Sobral went on to fight with the UFC, Rings, IFC, Affliction, Strikeforce, ONE FC, and finally at Bellator.

His official record will sit at 37-11, and he was a one time Strikeforce light heavyweight champion.

Last night, the semi-final fights of both the heavyweight and light heavyweight four-man tournaments took place at Bellator 96.  In the heavyweight division, both Ryan Martinez and Vitaly Minakov made short work of their opponents, while Muhammed Lawal and Jacob Noe advanced in the 205-pound division.

As most fighters who enter a Bellator tournament are prepared for a quick turnaround, the two tournament championship fights will take place at Bellator 97 on July 31 in Albuquerque, N.M.

While the first five events held by Invicta FC were only available to be viewed by attending the event in person or an online stream, Invicta FC 6 will be headed to pay-per-view on both cable and satellite providers in the United States and Canada.  The promotion has blocked off a four-hour slot for the event to unfold.  International fans will still be able to stream the event online.

As it currently stands, the pay-per-view main card is scheduled to air ten-fights, including the main event inaugural featherweight title fight between Marloes Conen and Cris “Cyborg” Justino.  Additionally, three fights will stream live and free online in the preliminary portion of the evenings card.

Invicta FC 6 will take place in Kansas City, Mo. on July 13.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship continued to book fights for their summer cards, as one has been added to UFC 164 and another to UFC 165.

At UFC 164, a bout between Jamie Varner and Gleison Tibau will take place, while at UFC 165, Ivan Menjivar will take on Norifumi Yamamoto.

UFC 164 will take place on Aug. 31 in Milwaukee, while UFC 165 takes place in Toronto, Canada on Sept. 21.

While the World Series of Fighting put on a show last Friday night, they have kept the momentum going with the preparations for their next event.  Today, the promotion announced six fights for the upcoming WSOF 4 card.

The six fights announced are:
Tyrone Spong vs. Angel Deanda
Marlon Morales vs. Brandon Hempleman
Ray Sefo vs. Dave Huckaba
Tyson Griffin vs. J.Z. Cavalcante
Nick Newell vs. Keon Caldwell
Jorge Santiago vs. Gerald Harris

One of the names that may stick out of the crowd is Ray Sefo, who will take off the promoters hat and replace it with the fighters hat.  The president of the promotion has fought three as a mixed martial artist, holding a record of 2-1, although he has a professional kickboxing record of 56-21-1 with several world championships to go along with it.

WSOF 4 takes place on Saturday, Aug. 10 in Ontario, Calif.  Tickets officially go on sale tomorrow at 7 a.m. EST.

The eighth night of fights for Cage Warriors will take place in a new location, as the promotion heads to Chechnya for the first time in its history.

Cage Warriors 58 is set to take place on Aug. 24 and currently there are no fights assigned to the card.