Bellator 106 is moving to Spike TV after the huge news that Tito Ortiz was withdrawing from the promotion’s first ever PPV main event. Ortiz was supposed to fight former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Details remain scarce, but Ortiz suffered a serious neck injury and will not be available to fight next week.
The news set the MMA universe ablaze as fans and media speculated over what would happen to “Rampage,” the card and Bellator as a whole. Early indications from Ariel Helwani—who first broke the story—was that the card was potentially moving to Bellator’s primary home, Spike TV, if an immediate replacement couldn’t be found.
Bellator President Bjorn Rebney was on a conference call shortly after the news broke, announcing the move to Spike and discussing a slew of other subjects.
This included a somewhat unclear talk about how they sought to have their current light heavyweight champion, Attila Vegh, work as a fill-in before the injury to Ortiz. While Vegh apparently agreed to train for the bout along the way, things “didn’t work out” and the fight was chopped entirely. The card was also to feature an interim light heavyweight title bout between “King” Mo Lawal and Emanuel Newton, making it somewhat confusing as to why no opponent for Jackson could be found.
While the loss of Ortiz vs. Jackson is profound, the card is essentially as stacked as the promotion is capable of.
A lightweight title fight between Michael Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez replaces Ortiz vs. Jackson as the main event, and is a highly anticipated rematch of what is widely regarded as one of the best fights in Bellator’s history. A featherweight title bout between Pat Curran and Daniel Straus slides into the co-main event, and will almost certainly be exciting. There is also the aforementioned interim light heavyweight title bout between Lawal and Newton.
A heavyweight tournament final bout between former UFC heavyweight Cheick Kongo vs. Vinicius “Spartan” Queiroz is also on the card. Filling in the fifth spot on the main card is the Fight Master final bout between Joe Riggs and Mike Bronzoulis.
Rebney, as would be expected, vowed that Bellator was not closing the door on PPV and stated they would get Jackson a fight “as soon as possible.” Stick with Bleacher Report for more news as it becomes available.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com