Press Release – Newport Beach, Cali. (August 14, 2012) — With the tournament field now complete, Bellator Fighting Championships is ready for another season of incredible knockouts and dynamic finishes as the promotion kicks off Season 7 with a loaded Welterweight Tournament headlined by former Bellator Welterweight World Champion Lyman Good battling the UK’s “Judo” Jim Wallhead. Tickets for Bellator 74 are on sale now and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or at the Caesars Box Office. Tickets are priced from $52-$165.
The event will broadcast LIVE on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX starting at 8 p.m. EST. The preliminary card, featuring some of the area’s top local talent will be streamed LIVE and FREE on Spike.com, with doors opening for the event at 6pm EST.
“Each quarterfinal pairing in our Season 7 Welterweight Tournament is basically a pick’em fight, with Lyman and Jim headlining what should be a fantastic night of fights,” said Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Atlantic City is a classic fight town and New Jersey is a hotbed for mixed martial arts, so our fans are in for a great night on September 28.”
Lyman Good returns to Bellator following a dominant, 13 second destruction of LeVon Maynard at Bellator 65 in April. After compiling an impressive 10-fight winning streak to begin his professional career, “Cyborg” hopes that a return to the tournament will yield the same results that saw him become the first ever Bellator Welterweight Champion as he battles Bellator veteran “Judo” Jim Wallhead in quarterfinal action. After a decision defeat at the hands of future Bellator Tournament Champion Rick Hawn, Wallhead has collected impressive victories over long time MMA veterans Frank Trigg and Joey Villasenor and will have momentum on his side September 28th from Caesars Atlantic City.
Montreal native and Tristar Gym disciple Nordine Taleb will get his first taste of Bellator tournament action when he meets Marius “The Whitemare” Zaromskis at Bellator 74. Known as one of the most explosive welterweights in the sport, Zaromskis is fresh from his unanimous decision victory against longtime rival Waachiim Spiritwolf and has his sights set on a Bellator Tournament Championship.
Jordan Smith will try his hand at another Bellator tournament as the Black House MMA product returns after suffering a flash knockout early in the first round at the hands of David “The Caveman” Rickles in the Season 6 Welterweight Tournament. Smith will have his hands full as he takes on undefeated Russian phenom Andrey “Spartan” Koreshkov in a quarterfinal showdown. With finishes in each of his 10 victories, “Spartan” is looking to make a big impression in his first Bellator Tournament.
An intriguing matchup between two Bellator newcomers will be on display as Tim Welch takes on Russian import and submission ace Michail Tsarev. Training with Team Dogpound, Welch hopes to follow in his teammate Lloyd Woodard’s footsteps and create a collection of highlight reel victories on his way to a Bellator Tournament Championship. For Tsarev, the 23-2 fighter joins Bellator riding a 10 fight win streak and is finally coming stateside to capture a Bellator Tournament Championship.
As one of the fastest rising stars in women’s MMA, Munah Holland is ready to make her mark inside the Bellator cage. Holland is currently riding a four fight win streak including knockout victories over Marianna Kheyfets and Carina Damm. An opponent will be announced shortly.
Fan favorite and Bellator veteran Popo Bezerra is back in action and ready to lock horns with Pennsylvania native and Blackman MMA product Jeff Smith, who brings an impressive 10-1 record into the Bellator cage. Originally from Brazil, Bezerra now is the head Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor at Daddis Fight Camps, and is well on his way to a future Featherweight Tournament appearance.
Training under the tutelage of former Bellator lightweight Kurt Pellegrino, Derrick Kennington will enter the Bellator cage looking for a big victory when he battles Filipino sensation Phillipe Nover in lightweight action. With both fighters calling the Tri-State area home, the Atlantic City crowd should be on their feet for these dynamic lightweights.
Submission ace Brylan Van Artsdalen is back and looking for victory when he takes on Pennsylvania resident Jay Haas in front of the raucous New Jersey crowd.
Undefeated middleweight Kelvin Tiller isn’t wasting any time getting back inside the Bellator cage after a big submission victory over Jeremiah Riggs at Bellator 70 as he battles New Jersey’s own Plinio Cruz.
Quickly climbing up the bantamweight rankings, rising prospect Claudio Ledesma will lock horns with Team Bombsquad member Kenny Foster, who is making his debut at Bantamweight after previously competing at featherweight.
Bellator 74:
Main Card(MTV2)
Welterweight Tournament Quarterfinal: Andrey Koreshkov vs. Jordan Smith
Welterweight Tournament Quarterfinal: Tim Welch vs. Michail Tsarev
Welterweight Tournament Quarterfinal: Nordine Taleb vs. Marius Zaromskis
Welterweight Tournament Quarterfinal: Lyman Good vs. Jim Wallhead
Preliminary Card(Spike.com)
Featherweight Feature Fight: Popo Bezerra vs. Jeff Smith
Lightweight Feature Fight: Derrick Kennington vs. Phillipe Nover
Featherweight Feature Fight: Brylan Van Artsdalen vs. Jay Haas
Women’s Feature Fight: Munah Holland vs. TBD
Middleweight Feature Fight: Kelvin Tiller vs. Plinio Cruz
Bantamweight Feature Fight: Claudio Ledesma vs. Kenny Foster
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 Fighting Championships
Bellator Fighting Championships is the world’s largest tournament based Mixed Martial Arts organization. Televised to nearly 500 Million homes worldwide, Bellator’s majority owner is entertainment giant Viacom. In the United States, Bellator can be seen on MTV2, in commercial-free HD on EPIX. Starting in January of 2013 Bellator will be broadcast on MMA television leader, Spike TV. With over 150 world-class athletes under contract, Bellator is home to many of the sport’s top athletes. Bellator’s founder &CEO, Bjorn Rebney, an experienced fighting sports and entertainment executive with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes, believed 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 political/subjective side of fighting sports. Bellator Fighting Championships’ executive team is comprised of 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 Southern, California.
About MTV2
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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.