Bellator announces first round tournament pairings for debut show in Hollywood, Florida, on April 3
by Press Release on Feb 26, 2009 3:46 PM EST
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Los Angeles, Calif. -- Bellator Fighting Championships, the first mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion to secure an exclusive agreement with any member of the ESPN family of networks, announced today that its debut event will be held in the Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida on April 3, 2009.
The event will air during prime time on April 4 on ESPN Deportes.
"We are thrilled to be premiering at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino," said Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney. "The Seminole Hard Rock has a superb track record of hosting world-class, sold out MMA in their state of the art arena. And as South Florida has some of the most passionate MMA fans in the country, the Hard Rock is the perfect location for our debut. We look forward to showcasing our highly competitive single elimination tournament fights for Florida’s MMA fans and for the world through our alliance with ESPN Deportes."
The event will feature tournament bouts in the Featherweight (145 lbs.), Lightweight (155 lbs.) and Middleweight (185 lbs.) divisions, showcasing two of the world’s best Lightweights (Eddie Alvarez and Jorge Masvidal) as well as featured non-tournament bouts and a top women’s fight highlighting Miami’s own Jessica Aguilar, an American Top Team fighter who has established a 5-2 record.
The fight card is detailed below:
Tournament bouts:
155 lbs.: Eddie Alvarez (16-2) vs. Daniel Morales (5-1)
155 lbs.: Jorge Masvidal (16-3) vs. Diego Garijo (3-1)
145 lbs.: Nick Gonzalez (14-6) vs. Yahir Reyes (12-5)
145 lbs.: Estevan Payan (6-1) vs. Luis Palomino (9-4)
145 lbs.: Joe Soto (4-0) vs. Ben Greer (11-4)
The bout between Alvarez and Morales pits an aggressive and hungry Alvarez against the notoriously tough Daniel Morales. Though Morales has only been to decision once, his bout with Alvarez marks a significant step up in competition for the former Cage of Fire Lightweight champ.
Taking a similar step up in competition is Diego Garijo, a decorated grappler who is in the best condition of his career. He will face off against Miami’s own Jorge Masvidal. Masvidal is known for his strength and endurance at Lightweight and with Garijo’s stellar conditioning, their bout promises to be a strong contender for fight of the night.
The event will also feature exciting matchups in the Featherweight division, including Nick Gonzalez who will compete against Yahir Reyes. As both are tremendous stand up fighters, this battle will likely be the best match up of striking skills of the division. Estevan Payan and Luis Palomino are set to compete in the Featherweight division as well. With aggressive, "in your face" styles, Payan and Palomino are expected to give tough fights until the end. The Featherweight matchup between Joe Soto and Ben Greer will be an interesting technical battle. Both are dominant wrestlers with solid jiu-jitsu backgrounds; their fight promises to be a true test of who rules on the ground.
Bellator Fighting Championships’ premiere season consists of 12 two-hour events to be broadcast weekly in primetime on Saturday nights. The nationally televised events will feature a combination of tournament and non-tournament special feature bouts. There will be four simultaneous tournaments taking place in season #1 over a three month period: one in each of the Featherweight (145 lb.), Lightweight (155 lb.), Welterweight (170 lb.) and Middleweight (185 lb.) divisions.
Tickets will go on sale Tuesday March 3, at 12:00 pm EST, and can be purchased at the Hard Rock Live Hollywood box office or Ticketmaster.com. Ticket prices are $25, $50, $100 and $150. For tickets to the live event, please visit Ticketmaster.com beginning Tuesday, March 3, 2009.
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I’ve been following information on this promotion for a while now and I’m impressed. I’m actually looking forward to seeing how this works out because they seem to have a legitimate chance at establishing a solid promotion.
Apparently the CEO has been behind the scenes in the MMA community for quite some time now. I can’t recall the names but he’s affiliated with people and promotions that were pretty surprising (in a good way).
Not all of the fighters names are immediately recognizable but from what little bit I know about Bellator, I think they may have some real up-and-comers on the roster. Then when you factor in the prime time ESPN Deportes deal, they have serious potential to gain recognition rather quickly.
I don’t know about the rest of you Megalo-Maniacs but I’ll be keeping a close eye on Bellator.
by Machine on Feb 26, 2009 4:44 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Agree with what you say machine but the finalists are kinda predetermined. Unless we see another breakout star you can be sure that Reis, Alvarez and Masvidal should take the tourny easy. In terms of interesting stylistic matchup, i think even the Sengoku tourney has more to offer. I will be keeping an eye on it for sure though. Baboon Palomino is one guy who showed some promise but his last performance kinda was a letdown.
by NameNotRequired on Feb 26, 2009 6:36 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Agreed. Outside of a fluke the finalists are predetermined. I’m not familiar with half of the other fighters but something tells me the brains behind this org are on to something with their inaugural roster picks.
One thing I’ll say will showcase this break-out promotion the best is the fact that they’re introducing themselves to the public in a Tournament format. Its the perfect arena to further develop existing stars and create new ones in a short amount of time. A good example would be how much more exposure Mousassi gained by winning the DREAM Middle weight Tourney.
by Machine on Feb 26, 2009 6:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Great posts guys. I am very much looking forward to this new organization. For their 1st show, its not bad at all! They have a few legit top mma fighters, and they probably have some diamonds in the rough on their roster as well.
The fact that they are willing to work/exchange fighters with Affliction and Strikeforce is a HUGE added bonus! I am a big fan of organizations that are willing to work with other organizations to bring fans superfights that otherwise wouldnt happen due to mma politics between rival organizations!
by john on Feb 27, 2009 9:57 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
anybody know if its going to be in a ring or a cage? im so over the cage, live events you cant see shit, but the best thing about seeing it live is you dont have to deal with bitch ass goldberg
by snicket916 on Feb 26, 2009 6:15 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Not sure which one i perfer, Cage or Ring. I have said for a long time though that if the UFC wants to be recognized as a sport by the general public, it should move to a ring. The cage comes off as either a gimmick or a barbaric ring for street fighters. To all fans of MMA we know better but to the casual observer it may seem fake or too dangerous.
by BK on Feb 26, 2009 10:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
To the casual observer the guard looks like 2 guys going at it missionary style. Should we replace the guard with something else or stand up fighters each time that happens ? Just because a bunch of casuals don’t understand how the guard works doesn’t mean the UFC(should change it to suit their tastes. Let them accept the fact there is a cage or GTFO imo.
Having a cage or ring is about as irrelevant(aesthetically) as the colour choice GSP picks for his spandex.
by -dkz- on Feb 27, 2009 8:21 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I know they signed five new fighters, but these guys need more fighters, mainly in the heavier classes. IMO, with the way the promotion currently stands, it would be a great company to cross promote the WEC FW and LW classes with, but we all know Zuffa would never let that happen They will need as much exposure as they can, being that not too many people have ESPN Deportes, Maybe they should put it on ESPN “El Ocho”!!!
Anyway, I probably will go watch these fights if they are going to be at the Hollywood Hard Rock.
by El Mexicutioner, formerly The Mexicutioner on Feb 26, 2009 6:42 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
count me in Jorge and Eddy for free :-).
by Bill Maher on Feb 26, 2009 8:02 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I heard a manager from Brazil offered them a couple of tough Brazilian fighters with last names linked to Latin heritage, but they refused to accept them and booked unknown fighters instead.
by Armagedon on Feb 27, 2009 9:36 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
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