Press Release – CHICAGO, Ill. (December 5, 2011) — After a historic fifth season that saw Michael Chandler capture the Bellator Lightweight Title in a four-round classic that many critics labeled fight-of-the-year, and Eduardo Dantas, Douglas Lima and Alexander Shlemenko all earning tournament championships, Bellator will open their sixth season on Friday, March 2nd from a soon to be announced location. The premiere will mark the first time Bellator has aired on Friday nights.
“Our focus was to find the right night, where the largest number of MMA fans could enjoy the show,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “We’ve been discussing this move with our partners at Viacom for months. When we looked at the alternatives, we agreed that Fridays provided a great night for us to reach MMA fans with our live, real sport, tournament events every week.”
Bellator’s Season 6 will feature five tournaments, each loaded with world-class talent from across the globe as well the potential for six World Title fights.
In arguably the deepest division within Bellator, eight featherweights will go to battle looking to earn their right to challenge for the belt.
The lightweights are back, and will be gunning for newly crowned Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler after his fight of the year with Eddie Alvarez (Watch Here: http://bit.ly/uoaoCE).
Fresh off a welterweight tournament that saw Douglas Lima punch his ticket to a guaranteed title shot against reigning Bellator Welterweight Champion Ben Askren, eight 170 pounders will compete to earn their title shot against the winner of this tremendous world title fight, and Middleweights collide as the promotion searches for a challenger to take on the winner of Lombard vs. Shlemenko II for the Bellator Middleweight Title. Bellator Season Five Tournament winner Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko will battle Lombard during Season 6 in a rematch of their third season showdown where Lombard successfully defended his title with a unanimous decision victory.
A fifth tournament will also be featured in Season 6 with an announcement coming shortly.
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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