(Curran vs. Friere could well be one of the best fights in Bellator history.)
Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that an anticipated featherweight title bout between champion Joe Warren and season 4 tournament winner Patricio “Pitbull” Friere will act as the headliner for the promotion’s first show in Canada on July 23 in Rama, Ontario.
Bellator 47 will be part of the organization’s summer series and will take place at Casino Rama, a native-run casino just northeast of Orillia.
According to Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, the overwhelming demand for a show in Canada and the recent decision by the Ontario government to sanction MMA prompted the decision to bring an event to a popular destination like Casino Rama, where the province’s first event was held in April.
“Our fans have been asking us to come to Canada since our first season,” says Rebney. “Casino Rama is an unbelievable venue and should make for a magical night of fights at Bellator 47.”
(Curran vs. Friere could well be one of the best fights in Bellator history.)
Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that an anticipated featherweight title bout between champion Joe Warren and season 4 tournament winner Patricio “Pitbull” Freire will act as the headliner for the promotion’s first show in Canada on July 23 in Rama, Ontario.
Bellator 47 will be part of the organization’s summer series and will take place at Casino Rama, a native-run casino just northeast of Orillia.
According to Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, the overwhelming demand for a show in Canada and the recent decision by the Ontario government to sanction MMA prompted the decision to bring an event to a popular destination like Casino Rama, where the province’s first event was held in April.
“Our fans have been asking us to come to Canada since our first season,” says Rebney. “Casino Rama is an unbelievable venue and should make for a magical night of fights at Bellator 47.”
According to Casino Rama media relations manager, Jenna Hunter, the show will be one of several Bellator will be holding at the casino this year.
“Another benefit is the number of events fans can expect to see. The tournament format allows fans to really latch onto a fighter and watch them rise (or fall) through the ranks,” Hunter points out. “Unlike other events, we will be presenting several shows a year and that’s a HUGE plus for MMA fans in Ontario that no one else is offering them.”
The event will also play host to the semi-finals of Bellator’s Featherweight Summer Series Tournament, which includes Ronnie Mann, Marlon Sandro, Nazareno Malegarie and Pat Curran. The winners of the Bellator 46 June 25 quarter-final bouts will fight on the card.
Filed under: Bellator, NewsJust over two years into its existence, Bellator will make its first trip into Canada when it goes to Rama, Ontario to host Bellator 47 at Casino Rama.
The summer series event, which will take place on July 23, will feature…
Just over two years into its existence, Bellator will make its first trip into Canada when it goes to Rama, Ontario to host Bellator 47 at Casino Rama.
The summer series event, which will take place on July 23, will feature featherweight champion Joe Warren defending his belt against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire.
According to Bellator, the event will also host the semifinals of the summer featherweight tournament. Among those in the field are Marlon Sandro, Ronnie Mann, and Pat Curran. The quarterfinals take place the month before, at Bellator 46.
To date, all Bellator events have taken place in the U.S., with Florida in the lead with six events hosted.
Casino Rama is located on reserve land about 90 miles north of Toronto, and has a 5,000-seat entertainment center that will play host to the event.
(“Yes, I want to be a f*cking fighter.” PicProps MMAMania)
Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that on June 18 it will be holding open tryouts for undiscovered professional fighters who want to earn a slot on one of the Chicago, Illinois-based promotions’s future cards.
The tryouts will take place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida on Saturday, June 18th. Registration begins at 1:00 p.m.ET and tryouts begin at 2:00 p.m. ET.
According to the release, Bellator is planning on putting fighters who make it through the tryouts on its future local regional cards starting with Bellator 50, which takes place on September 17 at the same venue as the tryouts. Extra consideration will be given to Florida-based fighters for that card. Non-Florida-based fighters are still encouraged to try out and will be scouted for other potential future roster openings.
(“Yes, I want to be a f*cking fighter.” PicProps MMAMania)
Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that on June 18 it will be holding open tryouts for undiscovered professional fighters who want to earn a slot on one of the Chicago, Illinois-based promotions’s future cards.
The tryouts will take place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida on Saturday, June 18th. Registration begins at 1:00 p.m.ET and tryouts begin at 2:00 p.m. ET.
According to the release, Bellator is planning on putting fighters who make it through the tryouts on its future local regional cards starting with Bellator 50, which takes place on September 17 at the same venue as the tryouts. Extra consideration will be given to Florida-based fighters for that card. Non-Florida-based fighters are still encouraged to try out and will be scouted for other potential future roster openings.
“The Seminole Hard Rock has been like a second home to Bellator,” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “We’ve had tremendous success with our open tryouts in the past, actually leading to a fighter securing a spot in a nationally televised Bellator Tournament. I expect another group of great fighters will be at the tryout June 18th in Hollywood.”
Casting calls like this are nothing new for Bellator. The promotion’s open tryouts have netted several fighters contracts, including Kenny Foster, Tyler Stinson, Anthony Lapsley, Anthony Leone, Jose Vega, John Orr and Jared Downing.
Fighters interested in attending the tryout (which will include grappling and focus pad work, but no live sparring) must bring MMA gloves, boxing gloves, an athletic protector and a mouthpiece. The tryouts are only open to professional fighters and they must be prepared to present their MixedMartialArts.com ID. Fighters must also be an unrestricted free agent and cannot have any contractual obligations to another mixed martial arts promotion.
The MMA Hour will be off on Monday due to Memorial Day, but the show returns on Tuesday at its usual 1 p.m. ET / 10 p.m. PT start time with another loaded lineup. Here’s who you will hear from:
* Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren will be in studio to talk about his upcoming title defense against Jay Hieron.
* Clay Guida will discuss Saturday night’s lightweight battle against Anthony Pettis.
* Mike Swick will talk about his long road back to the Octagon and his upcoming fight at UFC 134.
* Chad Mendes will explain why he chose to fight at UFC 133 instead of wait for Jose Aldo to get healthy.
* Kyle Kingsbury will discuss his TUF Finale fight on Saturday night against Fabio Maldonado.
* Heavyweight Travis Browne will discuss his first round knockout win against Stefan Struve at UFC 130.
Of course, we’ll be taking your calls. Give us a shout at: 212-254-0193 or 212-254-0237.
*** You can now stream the show live on your iPhone or iPad by clicking here.
Watch the show live below beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Subscribe to The MMA Hour on iTunes: audio feed here; video feed here. Download previous episodes here. Listen to the show via Stitcher here.
Editor’s Note: Today’s show is over and a replay will be available by Wednesday.
The MMA Hour will be off on Monday due to Memorial Day, but the show returns on Tuesday at its usual 1 p.m. ET / 10 p.m. PT start time with another loaded lineup. Here’s who you will hear from:
* Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren will be in studio to talk about his upcoming title defense against Jay Hieron.
* Clay Guida will discuss Saturday night’s lightweight battle against Anthony Pettis.
* Mike Swick will talk about his long road back to the Octagon and his upcoming fight at UFC 134.
* Chad Mendes will explain why he chose to fight at UFC 133 instead of wait for Jose Aldo to get healthy.
* Kyle Kingsbury will discuss his TUF Finale fight on Saturday night against Fabio Maldonado.
* Heavyweight Travis Browne will discuss his first round knockout win against Stefan Struve at UFC 130.
Of course, we’ll be taking your calls. Give us a shout at: 212-254-0193 or 212-254-0237.
*** You can now stream the show live on your iPhone or iPad by clicking here.
Watch the show live below beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Subscribe to The MMA Hour on iTunes: audio feed here; video feed here. Download previous episodes here. Listen to the show via Stitcher here.
Editor’s Note: Today’s show is over and a replay will be available by Wednesday.
“I believe you yanks call this a mean mug?” PicProps: Bellator.com
Since we mentioned it yesterday in that blatant vanity post, we’ll go ahead and fill you in with some of the details about Bellator’s plans for the summer. As you may remember, a BFC press release announcing the deal with MTV2 made a vague mention of “a collection of special feature events” on top of two full seasons a year. Details at the time were sketchy, and we weren’t really sure what those special feature events would entail. As the season four tournaments unfolded, we heard more and more about tournament action between seasons, initially referred to as a “mini-tournament”. We’d been thinking that this meant perhaps a couple of four-man brackets, maybe some of those Super Fights that Bellator digs so much.
Man, we were way off. Bjorn Rebney, head honcho of the BFC, has put together another intriguing tournament at 145, and that, ladies and germs, will be your main course for the summer series. If you are interested in that kind of thing, we’ve prepared a short primer on the featherweight tourney, plus a preview of Bellator 46, where the four quarterfinals will kick off in that other Hollywood.
Although we suppose you could come in and just throw poop at the new guy. Whatever.
“I believe you yanks call this a mean mug?” PicProps: Bellator.com
Since we mentioned it yesterday in that blatant vanity post, we’ll go ahead and fill you in with some of the details about Bellator’s plans for the summer. As you may remember, a BFC press release announcing the deal with MTV2 made a vague mention of “a collection of special feature events” on top of two full seasons a year. Details at the time were sketchy, and we weren’t really sure what those special feature events would entail. As the season four tournaments unfolded, we heard more and more about tournament action between seasons, initially referred to as a “mini-tournament”. We’d been thinking that this meant perhaps a couple of four-man brackets, maybe some of those Super Fights that Bellator digs so much.
Man, we were way off. Bjorn Rebney, head honcho of the BFC, has put together another intriguing tournament at 145, and that, ladies and germs, will be your main course for the summer series. If you are interested in that kind of thing, we’ve prepared a short primer on the featherweight tourney, plus a preview of Bellator 46, where the four quarterfinals will kick off in that other Hollywood.
Although we suppose you could come in and just throw poop at the new guy. Whatever.
Marlon Sandro (17-2) vs Genair “Junior PQD” da Silva (10-3)
Of course you guys remember Marlon Sandro, the Zombifier in Chief out of Brazil’s Nova Uniao, and you of course remember that he signed with Bellator back in February. Sandro, a consensus Top-5 here in the office, will match firepower with Brazilian Genair da Silva, a Renovacao Fight Team rep who likes knockouts, puppy breath, knockouts, long walks on the beach, knees on the ground, and knockouts. There’s a bit of a rivalry between the two styles (no really), so have your popcord ready.
Ronnie “Kid Ninja” Mann (19-2-1) vs Adam Schindler (9-1)
When Ronnie Mann made his Bellator debut a month ago, we thought it was some guy’s fifteen year old son that snuck into the cage. While he managed to do very unkind things to the face of some poor guy whose name escapes us at this time, he failed to actually end the fight, instead earning a lopsided decision and a spot in this tournament. Mann did make a good impression with his wrestling prowess–not something you expect from a Brit– and some serious offense on the ground. Meeting him will be submission wrestler Adam Schindler, a West Virgina native who won the state’s wrestling championship twice. An Air Force vet (My man! -RX), Schindler has victories at StrikeForce and Bellator, and it will be interesting to see how Mann’s wrestling matches up. The fight will be Schindler’s first at 145, after fighting at lightweight since his 2007 debut.
Pat Curran (13-4) vs Luis “Baboon” Palomino (16-6)
We passed along the news that Pat Curran was dropping down to 145, after a controversial Cinderella run through the season two brackets and subsequent loss to fade model and all-around BAMF Eddie Alvarez. Now fighting at a more natural weight, expect Curran to be a force to be reckoned with. Curran draws Peruvian-American contender Luis Palomino, who frequently competes at 155, including wins over Jorge Masvidal and Jose Figueroa and losses to Yves Edwards and Johnathan Brookins. Palomino took part in the first Bellator featherweight tournament, losing a split decision at Bellator 1 just two short years ago. On paper, it seems like an easy win for Curran, but Baboon has the tools to make it interesting.
Nazareno Malegarie (19-1) vs Jacob Devree (10-1)
After the 24 year old Argentine’s battle with eventual tourney finalist Daniel Straus, we reported that we would pay to see him fight again. Since Bellator listens to its fans, here’s Naza again in tournament action. Now carrying his first loss at 19-1 (which is still, you know, pretty alright as far as pro fighting record go), the Thiago Tavares training partner will be hungry for a win. His opponent is Jacob Devree, who we’ll admit not being familiar with. Apparently the PR folks at Bellator aren’t too sharp on his background either, since he rates exactly one sentence in the press release they sent to us. He’s probably legit though: they totally referred to him as “fast-rising”.
Jessica “Jag” Aguilar (10-4) vs Carla Esparza (5-1)
Also slated for action at Bellator 46 is a return to the women’s 125, with tournament vets Carla Esparza and Jessica Aguilar set to lock horns. Esparza had an excellent showing against Megumi Fujii at Bellator 24, despite being a relative MMA n00b at 3-0 and taking the fight on just three days notice (replacing an injured Angela Magana). Now with two wins between her and that first loss, the former high school wrestler has an intriguing matchup with Jag. Aguilar rebounded with a submission victory in November after her screwjob-loss to Zoila Frausto-Gurgel, and she will bring her fierce intelligence and unending positivity to the cage for this one. Oh wait, she’s also one of the most complete fighters in WMMA, repping American Top Team. If you still believe that women don’t have the skills for MMA, go ahead and DVR this fight. Then we’ll accept your apology.
Filed under: Bellator, News Bellator announced Monday the matchups for all four quarterfinal bouts in the promotion’s featherweight tournament happening on June 25 at Bellator 46 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla.
Bellator announced Monday the matchups for all four quarterfinal bouts in the promotion’s featherweight tournament happening on June 25 at Bellator 46 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla.
The “Summer Series’ will bridge the gap between last week’s season four finale and the season five premiere slated for Sept. 17.
Check out the featherweight bracket, which includes Bellator lightweight tournament winner Pat Curran and former Sengoku featherweight champion Marlon Sandro.
23-year-old Pat Curran (13-4) is coming off a loss in a Bellator title fight against champion Eddie Alvarez in April. He’s already won a Bellator tournament lightweight division in season two and he’ll be after a featherweight title shot against Luis Palomino. Palomino is 3-2 in Bellator competition and his most notable win was a split decision over Jorge Masvidal in February 2010.
Marlon Sandro (17-2), who trains with UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo, signed with Bellator in February and will be making his debut with Bellator after fighting exclusively in Japan from 2007 through 2010. He joined Sengoku in 2009 and made it all the way to the finals where he lost a close decision in the finals to Michihiro Omigawa. Last June, he earned a shot at the title and knocked out Masanori Kanehara in 38 seconds to become the new Sengoku champion. At the last Sengoku event (to date), Sandro dropped the title to Hatsu Hioki. Sandro will be facing Genair da Silva (10-3), a prospect out of Brazil.
Last September, Ronnie Mann (19-2-1) won the Shark Fights featherweight title against Doug Evans and then signed with Bellator this year. Mann, who was 2-1 with Sengkoku in 2009, outpointed Josh Arocho last month at Bellator 42. His opponent Adam Schindler (9-1) is a one-time Strikeforce competitor and previously fought for Bellator in May 2010. He’s on a six-fight win streak.
Nazareno Malegarie (19-1) joined Bellator in March and suffered his first career loss in a decision to Daniel Straus. Jacob Devree (10-1) of Arizona has been fighting mostly locally and this will be his first taste under the national spotlight. Bellator 46 Fight Card:
Televised Bouts
Marlon Sandro vs. Genair da Silva
Ronnie Mann vs. Adam Schindler
Pat Curran vs. Luis Palomino
Nazareno Malegarie vs. Jacob Devree
Preliminary Bouts
Josh Samman vs. Mike Bernhard
Tony Johnson Jr. vs. TBA
Jessica Aguilar vs. Carla Esparza
Just over two years into its existence, Bellator will make its first trip into Canada when it goes to Rama, Ontario to host 
Bellator announced Monday the matchups for all four quarterfinal bouts in the promotion’s featherweight tournament happening on June 25 at