CHICAGO, Ill. (August 30, 2011) — With a limited amount of tickets still remaining to Bellator’s fifth season premier in Atlantic City, the promotion has added two fan favorites to the card as Bellator veteran and New Jersey resident Lester Caslow will take on James “Binky” Jones in a catchweight feature fight at Bellator 49. Tickets for the event can be purchased at the Caesars box office, Bellator.com and Ticketmaster.com.
“To have the ability to put together world-class tournaments and memorable feature fights at the same time is what makes it fun for us,” said Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Lester, being a New Jersey product, will have great fan backing and James has always been a crowd favorite and known for putting on exciting fights. This should be a great one.”
Jones, a supervisor at Baltimore’s Youth in Transition School for over 20 years, will be looking to impress Bellator brass with a strong showing. The 20-fight veteran competed at Bellator’s open tryout last year in Philadelphia, but had to cut his time short after suffering a knee injury. Healthy and ready to fight, “Binky” knows this is an opportunity of a lifetime.
“It’s just such an honor to be fighting for Bellator,” said Jones. “This is a tremendous opportunity and I’m looking to make the most of it. Even though I got this fight just a few weeks out, I’ve been training for this opportunity for the last year, and I’m ready to bring it on September 10.”
Training with former UFC lightweight Kurt Pellegrino in New Jersey, Caslow brings an impressive kickboxing background into the cage against Jones. While Caslow has one Bellator fight under his belt, the 27-year-old knows fighting in his home state will be a whole new animal.
“Atlantic City is like my backyard so it will be great to have that hometown crowd behind me,” said Caslow. “It’s an honor to fight for a great organization like Bellator, and I’m just excited for September 10.”
The night will feature a host of local feature fights, as well as four quarterfinal matches to kick off Bellator’s Season 5 Welterweight Tournament. The entire fight card is as follows:
Bellator Season 5 Welterweight Tournament – Quarterfinals (September 10, 2011 – Atlantic City, New Jersey.)
Dan Hornbuckle (22-4) vs. Luis Santos (49-6)
Chris Cisneros (12-3) vs. Ben Saunders (10-3-2)
Chris Lozano (8-1) vs. Brent Weedman (18-6-1)
Steve Carl (14-2) vs. Douglas Lima (18-4)
Local Feature Fights
Alexandre “Popo” Bezerra (9-1) vs. Scott Heckman (8-2)
Joel Roberts (6-3) vs. Brylan Van Artsdalen (6-1)
Lester Caslow (6-5) vs. James “Binky” Jones (10-9)
Giedrius Karavackas (5-1) vs. LeVon Maynard (11-7)
Azunna Anyanwu (3-0) vs. J.A. Dudley (3-7)
For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator
About Bellator Fighting Championships
Bellator Fighting Championships is a Mixed Martial Arts promotional company headquartered in Chicago. Bellator’s founder/CEO, Bjorn Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and entertainment professional with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes. Bellator Fighting Championships’ executive team is comprised of top industry professionals in the areas of live event production, television production, fighter relations, venue procurement, sponsorship creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising, publicity and commission relations.
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