Bellator 131: "Tito vs. Bonnar" will take place from Valley View Casino in San Diego, Calif., on Sat., Nov. 15, 2014, featuring a light heavyweight main event between Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Hall of Famers Tito Ortiz vs. Stephan Bonnar.
Below is the official poster.
The co-main event features the lightweight championship rematch pitting Will Brooks against Michael Chandler, after "Ill Will" edged his adversary by split decision to win the interim title at Bellator 120: "Rampage vs. King Mo."
With Eddie Alvarez out of the picture, it seemed inevitable they would meet again, and below is an excerpt from the press release:
"I'm really excited about the opportunity to fight Will again," Chandler said. "I believe I'm the better fighter than I showed last time and I look forward to getting my belt back in front of a huge San Diego crowd."
"I can't wait to fight Chandler again and continue to progress from the last fight, Brooks said. "I feel that I found a weakness in his armor with the last fight, and came very close to breaking through and finishing him. I'm going to push him again, this time I'm going to break him, there will be no trilogy fight between Chandler and I. I'm going to finish what I started the first fight and expose him for what he is, a one dimensional fighter."
It seems odd that the lightweight title tussle (in which the promotion describes as a "vacant" championship) is playing second fiddle to a fight with no real meaning behind it, but after what we saw on last Friday's broadcast, sometimes, the circus prevails.
Coincidentally, this fight card falls on the same day as UFC 180: "Velasquez vs. Werdum," which takes place in Mexico.