Bellator Fighting Championships has reportedly signed Belorussian light heavyweight Vladimir ‘The Janitor’ Matyushenko (26-7). Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney confirmed the news on Twitter (@BjornRebney) on Wednesday after news surfaced at TheMMAReport.com. No news on whether Matyushenko will participate in this summer’s shortened four-man light heavyweight tournament or if he’ll compete in Season 9′s tourny. ‘The […]
Vladimir Matyushenko
Bellator Fighting Championships has reportedly signed Belorussian light heavyweight Vladimir ‘The Janitor’ Matyushenko (26-7).
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney confirmed the news on Twitter (@BjornRebney) on Wednesday after news surfaced at TheMMAReport.com.
No news on whether Matyushenko will participate in this summer’s shortened four-man light heavyweight tournament or if he’ll compete in Season 9′s tourny.
‘The Janitor’ moves to Bellator after a second run in the UFC where he went 4-3 since rejoining the promotion back in November 2009.
Matyushenko was released by the UFC after back-to-back losses.
His last Octagon appearance took place in January at UFC on FOX 6, losing by submission at 50-seconds of the first round to Ryan Bader. The other loss was to Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 141 via TKO back in December 2011. Between bouts, Matyushenko was out with injury.
‘The Janitor’ earned his last win in April 2011 with a 20-second knockout of Jason Brilz at UFC 129.
With a disappointing run in Bellator’s Season Eight light heavyweight tournament, former Strikeforce champ Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal (9-2, 1NC) will get a second chance this summer to win his way to another title shot. On Wednesday, following Bellator’s 2013 Summer Series announcement, MMAWeekly.com identified Lawal as one of the four light heavyweight competitors participating […]
Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal
With a disappointing run in Bellator’s Season Eight light heavyweight tournament, former Strikeforce champ Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal (9-2, 1NC) will get a second chance this summer to win his way to another title shot.
On Wednesday, following Bellator’s 2013 Summer Series announcement, MMAWeekly.com identified Lawal as one of the four light heavyweight competitors participating in the shortened tournament.
The news site spoke to Spike TV president Kevin Kay about ‘King Mo’s’ participation.
“Mo is actually going to fight in the Summer Series and I think people will be very excited to see how he comes back and what he does different this time,” said Kay, who was as surprised as everyone else to see Lawal get knocked out at Bellator 90.
“Of course I didn’t want to see him get knocked out, but that’s the tournament,” Kay added. “It just validates the tournament structure.”
Kay did not identify any other participants in the upcoming tournament.
Lawal appeared in the recent Season Eight tournament and losing in the semi-finals. ‘King Mo’ picked up a first round TKO win over Przemyslaw Mysiala in the quarter-finals at Bellator 86 and was knocked out by underdog Emanuel Newton at Bellator 90 in the semi-finals.
Press Release – Newport Beach, CA. (April 10, 2013) – After closing out a highly successful inaugural season on Spike TV, Bellator announced today it will hold four-man tournaments over the summer in the Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight and Bantamweight divisions. “We are always striving to enhance every aspect of the Bellator formula for our fighters […]
Press Release – Newport Beach, CA. (April 10, 2013) – After closing out a highly successful inaugural season on Spike TV, Bellator announced today it will hold four-man tournaments over the summer in the Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight and Bantamweight divisions.
“We are always striving to enhance every aspect of the Bellator formula for our fighters and fans,” Bellator CEO & Chairman Bjorn Rebney said. “Our Champions consistently defending their titles against world class challengers who’ve earned their title shots creates a win/win for those two crucial groups. Three stacked 4-man tournaments over our Summer Series on Spike is another great step in our growth and evolution”
Bellator has historically held classic eight-man tournaments featuring a collection of top talent from around the world. The eight-man tournament fields will continue this fall, live on Spike TV and in Spanish language on mun2.
Dates, venues and the final 4 for this Summer’s Heavyweight, Light Heavyweight and Bantamweight tournaments will be announced shortly.
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 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.
Press Release – New York, NY – April 10, 2013 – Spike TV’s debut season Bellator MMA was a ratings success for the network, delivering an average of 861,000 viewers, culminating with 952,000 viewers for its finale event this past Thursday, April 4. Emanating from venues all around the country, Bellator’s live events on Spike […]
Press Release – New York, NY – April 10, 2013 – Spike TV’s debut season Bellator MMA was a ratings success for the network, delivering an average of 861,000 viewers, culminating with 952,000 viewers for its finale event this past Thursday, April 4. Emanating from venues all around the country, Bellator’s live events on Spike TV improved the timeslot (Thursdays from 10pm-12:00am) in the hard-to-reach male demographic of Men 25-34 by 36% (compared to last year).
Bellator’s shift from MTV2 to Spike TV proved to be a ratings bonanza for the rising MMA league. The most recent season 8 on Spike TV delivered +388% more viewers than Season 7 on MTV 2 and +403% more viewers than Season 6. Also of note, the weekly encore presentation of the Bellator events drew an average of 336,000 on Thursday night (12:00-2:00am) – thus the weekly cume was an impressive 1,197,000 viewers.
Competitively, Bellator MMA consistently placed in the top 10 in cable among Men 18-34 and Men 18-49 in the timeslot. For the live finale last week, Bellator placed #6 with Men 18-49 with a 0.7 rating. Also, Bellator’s April 4 event was a hit on social media as it ranked #5 on cable for tweets during episode airtime, the highest during this season.
“As the television home of mixed martial arts, we were thrilled to deliver to our fans an exciting, action-packed live Bellator event each week with the compelling story-telling and high production values viewers expect from Spike,” said Kevin Kay, President, Spike TV.
“The response from fans on television and in-arena was tremendous this season,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “Our partners at Spike have given Bellator an enormous platform to showcase some of the best mixed martial arts on the planet. And…this is just the beginning”
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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.
Bellator and Spike TV are set to present their next project, Fight Master Bellator MMA this coming summer. The reality series will see 32 contestants, divided into four teams, compete against one another under the tutelage of coaches Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, Greg Jackson and Joe Warren.
Bellator and Spike TV are set to present their next project, Fight Master Bellator MMA this coming summer. The reality series will see 32 contestants, divided into four teams, compete against one another under the tutelage of coaches Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, Greg Jackson and Joe Warren.
The final results are in for Bellator MMA live from Revel in Atlantic City. The event featured the Bellator Middleweight Tournament Championship where Doug Marshall defeated Brett Cooper with an explosive TKO (punches) in the first round. Frodo Khasbu…
The final results are in for Bellator MMA live from Revel in Atlantic City. The event featured the Bellator Middleweight Tournament Championship where Doug Marshall defeated Brett Cooper with an explosive TKO (punches) in the first round. Frodo Khasbulaev won the Bellator Lightweight Tournament Championship by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) in a tough battle against Mike Richman. Marshall and Khasbulaev each earned a $100,000 tournament prize and a guaranteed title shot. The night also showcased the Featherweight World Championship with Pat Curran defending his title, beating Shahbulat Shamhalaev via submission (guillotine choke) in the first round.
