Bellator Fighting Championships finalized four of its scheduled events for the upcoming Seasons 2 and 3, announcing that it will return to the Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL. During its first season, Bellator began and ended its season at the Hard Rock Live, culminating in a near sellout for the upstart MMA promotion to close its inaugural campaign.
Bellator Returns To The Hard Rock
The dates to be held at the Hard Rock Live include:
Bellator XIII, April 8, 2010
Bellator XXII, June 10, 2010
Bellator XXV, Aug. 12, 2010
Bellator XXXVI, Oct. 28, 2010
In addition to the events at the Hard Rock, Bellator will be securing venues for 20 other events to be held nationwide over the next few weeks. All events will be broadcast live in primetime through a distribution arrangement with FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates. Bellator has also scheduled a 30-minute highlight show to air Saturday night on NBC, as well as a Spanish-language replay that will air on Telemundo on Saturdays as well.
The news of the first venues follows a recent rash of high-profile signings that include Dan Hornbuckle, former Olympian Ben Askren, Patricio Freire and Georgi Karakhaynan. Season 2 will follow the same tournament format with the winner of the tournament guaranteed a title shot against Bellator’s Season 1 champions Joe Soto, Eddie Alvarez, Lyman Good and Hector Lombard.
Tickets for the Season 2 premiere will go on sale February 5, 2010 and will be available at Ticketmaster.com.
Bellator Fighting Championship is raining down blows on it competitors in the MMA industry. The promotion today announced the high-profile signing of welterweight star Dan Hornbuckle. The comes on the heels of Bellator’s signings last week of former Olympian Ben Askren and Jacob McClintock.
Hornbuckle (19-2), a Sengoku veteran, joins Bellator’s roster of fighters on a four match win streak. His last taste of defeat came at the hands of UFC’s Mike Pyle, a fight which Hornbuckle dominated before getting caught in a surprise triangle choke. Hornbuckle bounced back from the defeat in style, dispatching cage veterans Akihiro Gono and Nick Thompson in back-to-back fights.
“With the addition of Hornbuckle to an already steady tournament field that includes Askren and McClintock, we’ve created a great tournament field in a division that many experts said was thin when it came to available talent,” Rebney said. “What we now have is the beginning of a 170 lbs. field that has created a feeling amongst hardcore MMA fans that April can’t come soon enough.”
The signings for Bellator are coming quick and steady. The quality of fighters that are being signed are clearly beyond the expectations of most industry observers. The tournament approach and flexibility of the promoters fighter control are appealing to the top independent fighters that have chosen to pass on the UFC. Bellator’s welterweight division, perhaps its weakest in Season 1, is panning out to be the most competitive right now for Season 2.
Needless to say, Rebney stole the words right out of my mouth. I can’t wait for Season 2 to get here soon enough.
Strikeforce announced today they have signed the immensely popular former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley (4-0) to a multiple fight contract. Lashley will compete in the heavyweight division at Strikeforce, adding to a division group that includes Fedor Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem, Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdum and former Olympian Daniel Cormier. Lashley is expected to debut on Strikeforce January 30, 2010 card.
The major signing comes on the heels of Strikeforce’s reported signing earlier this week of former UFC star Dan Henderson who will likely compete in the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. Lashley bolsters the heavyweight division given his name recognition and solid start to his MMA career. Choosing to go with Strikeforce has the industry abuzz Strikeforce now has more talent depth than the UFC, a huge chink in the armor for the leading promotion.
Leading up to the Strikeforce signing, Lashley’s career has been more carnival than sport. In his bout under Maximum Fighting Championships, his opponent Mike Cook (7-5) donned a mask during his cage entry to mock Lashley’s former professional wrestling gig. Lashley went on to dispatch Cook in 24 seconds.
Lashley’s handlers made matters worse with his next MMA fight, pitting him against Bob Sapp under the Fight Force International promotion. Sapp is a Japanese fighting treasure due to unusually large size, but brings forward limited fighting skills. Lashley won the circus-natured fight by submission through punches at 3:17 of the first round.
Regardless of where Lashley has come from, he is a true athlete with real fighting skills. To date, he has just taken bad advisement from his management team and focused on quick money by utilizing his name recognition. In signing with Strikeforce, it shows Lashley is committed to the sport. It will be interesting to see how he fares against increasing competition and whether he can make a similar transition such as Brock Lesnar.
It has been a whirlwind week in the sport of MMA with a rash of signings of top talent. Strikeforce’s announcements of Lashley and Henderson coupled with Bellator’s announcements of former Olympian Ben Askren and Jacob McClintock have highlighted a big week of news. Interestingly, the UFC has been dropping fighters while losing out on major signings. A new day appears to be dawning and UFC’s grip on the MMA appears to be loosening.
Confirming rumors circling the MMA news boards, Bellator Fighting Championships officially announced the signing of mixed martial artist Jacob McClintock. The undefeated McClintock (6-0) recently fought under the Ultimate Warrior Challenge banner, a regional MMA promotion in the Washington D.C. area.
McClintock comes from the stable of fighters under the Arizona Combat Sports team. That outfit is home to other top MMA fighters that include WEC champion Jamie Varner, TUF 8 champion Ryan Bader, and UFC top contender Aaron Simpson. McClintock is consider by many to be the next future star coming out of that group.
“Jacob’s ability, coupled with his exciting and aggressive style, falls right in line with what we are looking for at Bellator,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Last season, Joe Soto and Lyman Good went from anonymity to become world champions. Jacob has the tools to do the same. With his addition, welterweight is shaping up to be a great division for our Season 2 tournament.”
McClintock is the second major signing in as many days for Bellator, having announced the signing of former Olympian Ben Askren on December 9th. McClintock and Askren will both compete in the welterweight (170lbs.) division for Bellator. The winner of the 8-man tournament receives an automatic title shot at reigning undefeated champion, Lyman Good (10-0).
Bellator appears to be off to a great start in courting top-class fighters for its upcoming Season 2. With the format of controlling your own destiny in the tournament coupled with a live national broadcast, it seems to be generating the appeal to fighters ready for a breakthrough. Not to mention that MMA fans will now longer have to pay extra to see their favorite sport.
The Bellator Fighting Championship today announced the signing of former Olympian and 2-time NCAA Champion Ben Askren to compete in its upcoming 2nd season. Askren, sporting a 3-0 MMA record, is a 2008 Olympian and 2-time winner of the Dan Hodge Trophy, NCAA wrestling’’s version of the Heisman Trophy. He comes to Bellator as the most decorated United States wrestler ever to enter the MMA cage.
Considered to be the top MMA prospect not aligned with a major MMA promotion, the signing of Askren is a major coup for the upstart Bellator on the heels of its announcement of a national broadcast deal just a few weeks ago. Speculation on what major MMA promotion would sign Askren had been in the air for weeks. MMAJunkie.com incorrectly reported an imminent contractual signing in October with Strikeforce.
With respect to Askren’s decision to sign with Bellator, it signals a wake-up call to organizations such as Strikeforce and UFC to develop the next wave of fighters. Given just 3 professional fights, Bellator’s tournament approach provides a platform for the budding MMA superstar to hone his skills and grow as a fighter as he moves through the tournament.
In contrast, organizations such as Strikeforce and UFC would have rushed Askren to the cage and paired him with its top talent immediately to monetize the marketing value of his name. Recently, UFC cut 3-time NCAA champ Jake Rosholt after losing his second fight despite many observers believing that Rosholt is on track for future stardom.
“I am very happy to welcome Ben to Bellator,” said Bjorn Rebney, founder and CEO of Bellator Fighting Championships. “Ben’s an exciting fighter with unlimited potential and an unparalleled list of Olympic and collegiate accomplishments. We believe he can become a true force in this sport. As an MMA fan, I can’t wait for Ben’s first fight in our tournament on FOX Sports Net, NBC and Telemundo this April.”
Bellator, which sports a tournament style approach, pits 8 mixed martial arts fighters in a standard tourney bracket in a winner-takes-all approach. Unlike other promotions, Bellator does not create handpicked matchups for its fighters competing for the championship belt. In the upcoming season 2, the winner of the tournament receives an automatic shot at the current titleholder in the weight class.
Askren, on his decision to sign with Bellator shared, “I like that my fights are going to broadcast nationally, I like the tournament-style format and I love the opportunity to be a part of something exciting and new. I plan on winning Bellator. My goal, as it always has been, is to be the best in the world.”
With his signing, Askren will enter the welterweight (170 lbs.) tournament division. If he is able to pull of three victories, he will earn the right to fight current Bellator champion, undefeated Lyman Good (10-0).
Bellator’s will be featured live in primetime on Thursday nights on FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates beginning April 8, 2010. A weekly 30-minute highlights show of each week’s events will be aired every late nights on Saturdays on NBC. Telemundo will carry a taped-delay Spanish-translated replay every Saturday night at midnight.
