Press Release – Newport Beach, CA. (June 19, 2013) – Bellator MMA will host a special Saturday event to kick off the promotion’s highly anticipated Season 9 debut from Connecticut’s own Mohegan Sun Casino Saturday, September 7th live on Spike. The night will feature reigning Bellator Middleweight World Champion Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko putting his title on the line against Season 8 Middleweight Tournament Winner Doug Marshall, the live “Fight Master” Tournament Final, and the Bellator MMA return of “The Baddest Man on The Planet” Joe Warren, as the former Bellator World Champion will begin his journey through The Toughest Tournament In Sports in his quest for another Bellator Title. The night will also feature the opening round of Bellator’s Fall Season Middleweight Tournament.
“The Baddest Man on The Planet is back with Bellator, and I’m already counting down the days until September 7th,” Warren said. “I know what it feels like to have that Bellator belt wrapped around your waist, and I want it back. I’ve got Nick Kirk standing in my way to start the tournament, he’s a tough guy but nothing is going to get in my way if it means getting back that belt.”
The event will broadcast LIVE starting at 8 p.m. EST on Spike. The preliminary card will be streamed LIVE and FREE on Spike.com starting at 6:00 p.m. EST. Tickets for the event will be on sale Thursday, June 20th at Ticketmaster.com or by visiting the Mohegan Sun Box Office, with tickets starting at just $30 dollars.
“This Fall’s season is the most stacked season we’ve ever had and this special Saturday night, 3-hour kick off free on Spike TV is an amazing first act,” Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “This Middleweight World Title fight has fight of the year written all over it. Adding Joe’s return, the Fight Master finale and the opening round of the Middleweight tourney will be an incredible night of fights at Mohegan Sun.”
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/BellatorMMA
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 115 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.
