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.
Another year has come and gone with MMA broadening it fan base while moving closer to mainstream acceptance in the sports marketplace. UFC hosted it 100th major event, Strikeforce brought Fedor to CBS and Bellator came out of nowhere to deliver some of the best fights all year. It was a year of milestone and big fights.
Here are this year’s awards winners:
Fighter of The Year
Fighter Of The Year
Lyoto Machida (UFC)
2009 was the Year of The Dragon, as Machida laid claim to the title of best light heavyweight in the world. All he did was dispatch two previously undefeated fighters in Thiago Silva to earn a title and Rashad Evans to win the UFC championship belt. He then fought a tightly contested matchup versus former Pride champion Mauricio Rua and earned a controversial unanimous decision. Machida recently underwent surgery on his hand, but a rematch versus Rua is on the schedule for early 2010
Fight Of The Year
Donald Cerrone vs. Benson Henderson (WEC 43)
Unquestionably the best display of mixed martial arts skills in any fight this year amongst top-tier fighters. While other may point to Sanchez vs Guida or Melendez vs Thomson as their pick, those bouts were merely street fights in a cage. Albeit entertaining, they are not representative of true MMA skill sets. The Cerrone/Henderson was a back and forth war between the athlete (Henderson) and the technician (Cerrone). Henderson would be the aggressor and land his shots and get his takedown, then Cerrone would turn the tied with his great defense and submission moves. It was every MMA fans true delight to watch this match and most cannot wait for the rematch of this tightly contested fight.
Knockout of the Year – Dan Horbuckle vs Akihiro Gone (Sengoku)
This was a tough decision, as there were some fantastic knockouts in 2009. UFC’s Dan Henderson’s drilling of Michael Bisping was one of the best punches delivered in a long-time. Bellator’s Yahir Reyes’ spinning backfist of Estevan Payan rates high purely based on the sound of the crack of that hit. In the end, you gotta give the kudos to Dan Hornbuckle for his leg kick to the head of Akhiro Gono. Rarely do you see a guy knocked cold from a leg kick like the one delivered by Hornbuckle. When you watch the super slow motion replay of the kick, you really feel Gono’s pain.
Submission of The Year – Toby Imada vs. Jorge Masvidal (Bellator)
The was the easiest to pick, simply because MMA has never seen such a move applied in its history. Imada had everything thrown at him but the kitchen sink by Jorge Masvidal. Imada never quit and Masvidal let his cockiness supercede sensibility. Masvidal lifted Imada off the ground for a slam, and in the process got himself choked unconscious while standing on his feet. It wasn’t just the submission of the year, it was the greatness submission of all time.
Breakthrough Fighter Of The Year
Breakthrough Fighter
Jose Aldo (WEC)
Jose Aldo was a relative unknown to most MMA fans to start the year, just another featherweight in the stacked WEC. His body of work was questionable as well, having fought mostly guys that had many losses on their records. He caught the attention of fans with his highlight reel flying double-knee knockout of top contender Cub Swanson and followed that up with a dominant victory over WEC champion Mike Brown. While’s Aldo longevity at the top is still questioned by many industry observers, his rise in 2009 from a preliminary bout fighter to close out 2008 to champion.
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.
