Bellator Fighting Championships Tournament and Heavyweight Explosion comes to Colorado Springs World Arena on April 24

Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that Bellator IV, the fourth event of the highly anticipated 12-week tournament series airing on ESPN Deportes, will be held in Colorado Springs, Colo., on April 24, 2009.

The event will take place at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, which rests just south of Denver in the shadow of the neighboring Rocky Mountains, a natural metaphor for Bellator’s combined feature events, "A Night of Heavyweights & the Semi-Final Round of the World Championship Lightweight Tournament."

The commanding roster of heavyweight fighters will anchor an action filled evening of competition featuring some of the best fighters this weight class has to offer. This Bellator special event will also feature a Lightweight semi-final tournament match-up, with the resulting winner advancing as a finalist for Bellator’s $175,000 Lightweight World Championship Fight.

"The fight card is packed with great Heavyweight match-ups and what promises to be a compelling Lightweight World Championship tournament Semi-Final," said Bellator Fighting Championships CEO Bjorn Rebney. "Colorado MMA fans and our worldwide television audience should expect to see a night of powerful strikes, tactical submissions and crowd pleasing knockouts."

Bellator IV will feature a collection of highly-competitive, action-packed Heavyweight bouts, a World Championship Semi-Final as well as a collection of spectacular special feature fights. The evening will also feature a bout between two top form female fighters, Molly Helsel versus Angela Hayes.

The non-tournament Heavyweight bouts on show are detailed below:

Non-Tournament Bouts:
Heavyweight – Dave Herman (13-1) vs. Josh Barnes (5-1)
Heavyweight – Rauol Romero (3-1) vs. Dave Evensen (10-4)
Heavyweight – Eddie Sanchez (11-3) vs. Jay White (4-5)
Heavyweight – Tyler East (pro debut)) vs. Amedio Viola (0-1)
Heavyweight – Joey Beltran (5-2) vs. Sherman Pendergarst (11-12)
130 lbs. – Molly Helsel (7-7) vs. Angela Hayes (1-5)

Special Lightweight World Championship Semi-Final Tournament match-up based on the outcome of Bellator I, II & III

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 at 12:00 pm MT Friday, March 27, 2009 and can be purchased at the ­­World Arena box office and through TicketsWest.

For more information on Bellator Fighting Championships, visit www.Bellator.com. For the Spanish language version of the Web site, visit www.Espanol.Bellator.com.