Press Release – CHICAGO, Ill. (September 22, 2011) — The weigh-in and pre-fight press conference for Bellator 51 will take place FRIDAY at 5:00 P.M. EST inside the Pro Football Hall of Fame, located at 2121 George Halas Drive NW, Canton Ohio, 44708. Bellator 51 will take place inside the Canton Civic Center on Saturday, September 24 with the first fight taking place at 7 p.m. ET and streaming LIVE on Spike.com. The televised portion of the night will begin at 9 p.m. ET and will air LIVE on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX.
All participants from Saturday night’s event will be on hand, including Bellator Featherweight Champion and self proclaimed “Baddest Man on the Planet” Joe Warren, who drops down a weight class and takes on former Cuban Olympic wrestler Alexis Vila in the quarterfinals of the Bellator Bantamweight Tournament and looks to become the only person in history to hold two Bellator world titles at the same time. Bellator veteran Wilson Reis will fight Eduardo Dantas, along with Marcos Galvao taking on Chase Beebe and Luis Nogueira facing Ed West. The undercard will also feature a cornucopia of local Ohio talent, including Ohio’s best female mixed martial artist Jessica Eye, as well as Frank “The Tank” Caraballo taking on Dustin Kempf.
Canton Mayor William J. Healy II will also be in attendance with Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, who is a former Ohio University football standout.
The event will be emceed by Bellator cage announcer Michael C. Williams and Bellator color commentator Jimmy Smith.
As always the weigh-in is open to both the public and media.
If you are not able to attend the official weigh-in/pre-fight conference for Bellator Fighting Championship’s Saturday event, you can catch all the action LIVE at www.Bellator.com. The entire weigh-in/pre-fight press conference for Bellator 51 will be streaming LIVE at 5:00 P.M. EST.
The full fight card for Bellator 51 is below:
MAIN CARD:
Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinal Fight: Joe Warren (7-1) vs. Alexis Vila (9-0)
Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinal Fight: Wilson Reis (12-3) vs. Eduardo Dantas (12-2)
Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinal Fight: Chase Beebe (19-7) vs. Marcos Galvao (9-4-1)
Bantamweight Tournament Quarterfinal Fight: Ed West (16-5) vs. Luis Nogueira (11-1)
UNDERCARD:
Women’s Local Feature Fight: Jessica Eye (3-1) vs. Casey Noland (3-1)
Light Heavyweight Local Feature Fight: Dane Bonnigson (1-1) vs. Dan Spohn (5-0)
Light Heavyweight Local Feature Fight: Allan Weickert (6-8) vs. John Hawk (5-3)
Lightweight Local Feature Fight: Joey Holt (1-0) vs. Clint Musser (1-0)
Lightweight Local Feature Fight: Frank Caraballo (6-4) vs. Dustin Kempf (6-4)
Bantamweight Local Feature Fight: Farkhad Sharipov (13-3) vs. Jesse Riggleman (10-2)
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.
About MTV2
MTV2 is a man’s best friend, available in nearly 80 million homes and with the highest concentration of males 12-24 and 12-34 on TV today. A vibrant mix of music, lifestyle and action sports programming, MTV2 has reflected the habits and behavior of young people since its launch in 1996. MTV2 is part of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom, one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.
About EPIX
EPIX, a joint venture between Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B), its Paramount Pictures unit, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), is a next-generation premium entertainment channel, video-on-demand and online service launched on October 30, 2009. With access to more than 15,000 motion pictures spanning the vast libraries of its partners and other studios, EPIX provides a powerful entertainment experience with more feature films on demand and online and more HD movies than any other service. It is the only premium service providing its entire monthly line-up of new Hollywood titles, classic feature films, original series, music and comedy specials through the linear channel, video-on-demand and online at EpixHD.com, the leading online destination for movies.
EPIX has made the commitment to deliver the industry’s most expansive online collection of movies, making more than 3,000 titles available on EpixHD.com. The service is available to over 30 million homes nationwide through distribution partners including Charter Communications, Cox Communications, DISH Network, Mediacom Communications, NCTC, Suddenlink Communications and Verizon FiOS.