CHICAGO, Ill. (August 30, 2010) – Bellator Fighting Championships today announced the official Local Feature Fights line-up for Bellator 27 taking place in San Antonio at the Majestic Theater on September 2nd.
Headlining the local main event are undefeated Texas natives Rodrigo Pinheiro (3-0) and Andrew Craig (1-0). Pinheiro currently owns and operates his own Jiu-Jitsui gym in San Antonio, and looks to continue his impressive rise in the sport when he faces off with the hard-hitting Craig.
Five additional Local Feature Fights join this already stacked card including:
San Antonio based Gilbert Jimenez (2-1) squaring off against Houston’s Aaron Barringer(4-2) in the nights local co-main event.
Additionally, 11-year SAPD officer Richard Odoms (1-0) battles Dallas native Dale Mitchell (0-2) in heavyweight action.
Dallas-based Joe Christopher (10-3) will be taking on Houston fighter Andrew Chappelle (9-6) in a Welterweight contest. Both fighters have previous Bellator experience, with Chappelle notching an impressive rear-naked choke at Bellator 20 and Christopher locking up a fight-ending guillotine choke at Bellator 19.
Pasadena, TX native Jon Kirk (15-8) faces San Antonio’s Shane Faulkner (3-2) in a middleweight fight.
Rounding out the local card will be two fighters making their professional MMA debuts in Steven Peterson and Ernest De La Cruz.
“San Antonio fans are in for a treat with our Local Feature Fight lineup.” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “The Majestic Theater has been a great venue for Bellator and with our stacked main card in addition to our Local Feature Fights – it should be a great night of fights.”
Bellator 27’s main card includes:
Bellator Featherweight Champion Joe “The Hammer” Soto (9-0) defends his title against Bellator Season 2 Featherweight Tournament Champ Joe Warren (5-1) in a Featherweight World Championship fight.
Two Bellator veterans square off when Nick “Garfield” Mamalis (10-4) and Zack “Fun Size” Makovsky (9-2) collide in an opening round Season 3 Bantamweight Tournament fight. .
In other bantamweight tournament action hard-hitting Bryan Goldsby (15-7) meets submission specialist Ed West (13-4) in a quarterfinal match-up.
Rounding out the main card will be another opening round Bantamweight Tournament fight between the always exciting Travis “The Hurricane” Reddinger (14-2) and submission ace Uylsses Gomez (6-1).
Tickets for the event – which will also be broadcast LIVE nationwide on FOX Sports Net along with action-packed highlight shows that will air on NBC Saturday nights – tickets are on sale now at ticketmaster.com
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.