Press Release – CHICAGO, Ill. (January 6, 2011) — As Bellator Fighting Championships prepares to make the jump to Friday nights, the tournament fields are beginning to take shape as the lightweight and welterweight tournament participants have been revealed. Bellator’s sixth season begins Friday, March 2nd LIVE on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX, with the preliminary fights being streamed LIVE and FREE around the world on Spike.com. Season 6 will feature tournaments in the bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions.
Coming off a 50-second knockout victory over UFC veteran Kurt Pellegrino, Patricky Pitbull (@PatrickyPitbull) headlines an impressive group of 155 pounders looking to dethrone the newly crowned Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler. After a successful run at welterweight, former 2004 US Olympic judo team member Rick Hawn (@RickHawnMMA) has made the drop to lightweight and has his sights set on capturing a guaranteed title shot and $100,000 payday. The tournament will also be full of newcomers as Ricardo Tirloni (@TirloniMMA), Thiago Michael and J.J. Ambrose (@Superjjambrose) all make their Bellator tournament debuts and all come with high expectations. Joining Hawn in the weight drop is Brent Weedman (@Brent_Weedman), who will try his hand at lightweight after competing in the last two welterweight tournaments. Fan favorite Lloyd “Cupcake” Woodard (@MMAcupcake) is back with Bellator and looking to get back to his winning ways after suffering a unanimous decision loss at the hands of the current Bellator lightweight champion.
In a field that holds a combined 122-29-5 record, Bellator’s Season 6 Welterweight Tournament is loaded with talent hungry for a title shot against undefeated Bellator Welterweight Champion Ben Askren. Bellator newcomers and UFC veterans Brian Foster (@BrianFoster170) and War Machine (@WarMachine170) will be looking to make strong first impressions, while Season 5 Welterweight Tournament Finalist Ben “Killa B” Saunders (@BenSaundersMMA) will be looking to finally secure his title shot. Bellator Season 2 Middleweight finalist and Season 5 semifinalist Bryan Baker (@BryanBeastBaker) has dropped down to welterweight and plans to stir up 170-pound class. David Rickels (@TheCaveman316) and Raul Amaya both bring identical 9-0 records into the tournament, while veterans Carlos Pereira and Karl Amoussou round out one of the deepest tournaments in Bellator history.
A full list of tournament participants is listed below:
Bellator Season Six Lightweight Tournament
Patricky Pitbull
Thiago Michael
Ricardo Tirloni
Brent Weedman
Rick Hawn
J.J. Ambrose
Lloyd Woodard
TBA
Bellator Season Six Welterweight Tournament
Ben Saunders
Brian Foster
Bryan Baker
Karl Amoussou
David Rickels
Raul Amaya
Carlos Pereira
War Machine
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 a Mixed Martial Arts promotional company headquartered in Chicago. Bellator, Latin for Warrior, is partnered with entertainment industry leaders Viacom and Fremantle Entertainment, and is the world’s leading tournament-based mixed martial arts organization. Bellator’s Founder, Chairman & 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.