Press Release – Newport Beach, CA. (February 12, 2013) – After suffering a hand injury in his Bellator Lightweight Quarterfinal victory, Tiger Sarnavskiy will be replaced in the Season 8 Lightweight Tournament by Michigan native Jason “The Finisher” Fischer. The Lightweight Tournament continues February 28th from New Mexico’s Santa Ana Star Center.
Tickets for the event are on sale and range from $25-$90. Tickets can be purchased at ComcastTix.com, Bellator.com or by visiting The Santa Ana Star Center box office. The event will broadcast LIVE starting at 8 p.m. MST on Spike, as well as in Spanish language on mun2. The preliminary card will be streamed LIVE and FREE on Spike.com starting at 6 p.m. MST.
If getting a chance to fight for a $100,000 Tournament prize wasn’t enough, Fischer will now have the chance to avenge the only loss of his young career as the submission ace will meet David “The Caveman” Rickels in semifinal action. The two met in November of 2012, with Rickels escaping with a unanimous decision win.
“This is a huge opportunity for me,” Fischer said. “I feel like I’ve put in a ton of hard work and this is the time for all that work to pay off. You never like to see any fighter go down with an injury, but when the phone call came in, I jumped at the opportunity. My loss to Rickels still bothers me, and I’m looking to wipe the slate clean with a big win on February 28th.”
The night will also feature the undefeated Will Brooks taking on the explosive Saad Awad for a spot in the Bellator Lightweight Tournament Finals, while reigning Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Christian M’Pumbu battles Attila Vegh for the title.
For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA, follow Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney @BjornRebney and check out Bellator on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator
About Bellator MMA
Bellator MMA is the world’s largest tournament based Mixed Martial Arts organization. Televised to nearly 500 Million homes worldwide in over 107 countries, Bellator’s majority owner is entertainment giant Viacom. In the United States, Bellator can be seen on Spike TV, the MMA television leader. With over 150 world-class athletes under contract, Bellator is home to many of the sport’s top mixed martial artists. Bellator’s founder & CEO, Bjorn Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and entertainment executive with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes. Bellator’s core philosophy is that title shots should be earned, not given. This belief gave rise to Bellator’s real sport, tournament-based format, which gives Bellator’s tournaments a true playoff feel that keeps the sport true and distances itself from the subjective side of fighting sports found in organizations that utilize a matchmaking/casting formula. Bellator MMA is comprised of an executive team that includes top industry professionals in television production, live event orchestration, fighter development/relations, venue procurement, sponsorship creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising, publicity and commission relations. Bellator is based in Newport Beach, California.
About Spike TV:
Spike TV is available in 98.7 million homes and is a division of Viacom Media Networks. A unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), Viacom Media Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV’s press site at http://www.spike.com/press. Follow us on Twitter @spiketvpr for the latest in breaking news updates, behind-the-scenes information and photos.
About mun2
mun2 is the leading Hispanic cable network for young millennial adults 18-34. From reality to music, on-air to digital, mun2 creates original content that resonates across a multi-screen platform. Young, vibrant and unabashedly Latino, mun2 has a distribution to over 38 million households. The network is part of Telemundo Media, a division of NBCUniversal.