Press Release | UFC Betting Sites - The Best MMA Online Bookies

Bellator 24 Completes Fights For August 12.

CHICAGO, Ill. (August 09, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships today announced the completion of the Local Feature Fights for Bellator 24 taking place in Hollywood, Fla. at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on August 12th. Joining an exciting lightweight fight between the ever-entertaining Yves Edwards and colorful, highly-regarded South Florida fan favorite […]

In a battle of Miami natives, the up-and-coming Nico Parella (2-1) will face Efrain “El Lobo” Ruiz (6-9) in a welterweight contest that will serve as the Local Co-Main Event. Both Parella and Ruiz will be hungry for a win after dropping their last respective fights which should provide fans with an explosive match-up at 170 lbs.

Hometown favorite Moyses Gabin (5-3) will take on Miami-based fighter Frank Carrillo (2-1) in a middleweight fight that is sure to bring fireworks. Both fighters have experience in the Bellator cage. In fact, this will be Gabin’s fourth appearance under the Bellator banner and second fight at The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Just two months ago at Bellator 21 Gabin won in convincing fashion with a slick Rear-Naked-Choke against Chris Boffil with just 20 seconds left in the first round. Carrillo is also coming off of a decisive victory garnered at Bellator 21 where he gained a 3rd round TKO against Sabah Homasi.

Also on the card will be Port St. Lucie, FL native Eric Luke facing off against Miami-based fighter Chino Duran in a featherweight fight.

Kicking off the night will be undefeated Orlando-based bantamweight prospect Brian Eckstein returning to the cage to take on Miami’s Tulio Quintanilla.

“Our Local Feature Fights give up-and-coming fighters a shot to perform on the big stage,” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “This local talent combined with our stacked main card should provide a great night of fights.”

Bellator 24’s main card includes:

-A special non-title “Super Fight” between reigning Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard (26-2-1) and former NFL standout Herbert “Whisper” Goodman (15-8);

-An opening-round fight in Bellator’s Women’s World Championship Tournament featuring the world’s No. 1 pound-for-pound female fighter, Megumi Fujii, and dangerous veteran Angela Magana, the world’s No. 8-ranked female fighter at 115 lbs.;

-Another opening-round Women’s Tournament fight between the world’s No. 6-ranked 125-pounder, Lynn “Lights Out” Alvarez, and Florida’s Jessica Aguilar, the world’s No.7-ranked 115-pounder; and

-An opening-round fight in Bellator’s Season 3 Heavyweight Tournament between heavy-handed UFC veteran Eddie Sanchez and British power-puncher Neil “Goliath” Grove.

Tickets for the event – which will also be broadcast LIVE nationwide on FOX Sports Net along with action-packed highlight shows that will air on NBC Saturday nights – tickets are on sale now at ticketmaster.com

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA or 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’s founder/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.

M-1 Selection Americas 2010 Americas Semi Finals Results.

At the close of the final bout on Saturday night’s M-1 Selection Americas 2010 – Americas Semi Finals at Bally’s Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, frenzied fight fans bore witness to stellar performances as the tournament’s Finals round matchups materialized.
The Americas Final round presents a stellar card of returnees with only one victory standing between […]

The Americas Final round presents a stellar card of returnees with only one victory standing between the fighter and the title of M-1 Selection Champion in their respective weight classes. “Tonight’s performances were overall astounding,” says Evgeni Kogan, M-1’s Director of Operations. “The MMA world is going to have to take notice of our next generation superstar fighters. If the Semi’s presented this high a level of excitement, the Finals are going to be that much better.”

Results for the semi-final round bouts:

Byron Byrd def. Sammy Collingwood – :40 of round 1 via TKO

Jose Figueroa def. Josh Thorpe – via unanimous decision

George Sheppard def. Josh Baccallao – via split decision

Len Bentley def. Colin Schrader – 1:45 of round 2 via KO

Daniel Vizcaya def. Chris Sydnor – 202 of round 1 via submission (head and arm choke)

Mike Geurin def. Shane Primm – unanimous decision

Pat Bennett def. Mehdi Hassan – unanimous decision

Tyson Jeffries def. Plinio Cruz – via split decision

Kenny Garner def. Andrei Kapilou – via unanimous decision

Tom Gallicchio def. Aaron Meisner – Round 3 via submission (RNC)

The M-1 Selection Americas Finals will return to Bally’s Casino Hotel in Atlantic City on September 18, 2010 with tournament bracket winners going head-to-head to earn the title of the M-1 Selection 2010 Champion; the event will also feature super-bouts to be announced shortly and undercard matchups featuring return trips to the M-1 ring by Selection tournament standouts.

The “M-1 Selection” is the world’s premiere MMA competition where the next generation of superstars are given the opportunity to showcase their skills on the world stage with fighters being eliminated after only one loss; victory will advance the winning fighters throughout the tournament and earn them a trip to the championship event where they will compete for the coveted “M-1 Selection” title.

The “M-1 Selection” tournament is broken down into global regions: Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Americas with each region hosting three rounds and a final of the ““M-1 Selection” tournament. The winning fighter in each weight class will gain the opportunity to fight on the larger international stage. Please credit photos to Zack Lynch c/o M-1 Global
About M-1 Global:

Founded in 1998 by Vadim Finkelchtein and Sergey Matvienko, M-1 Global has established itself in the realm of mixed martial arts (MMA) as the premiere entity for discovering and developing the world’s next-generation of superstar fighters. With offices in St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles and affiliates in Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Tokyo and Paris, the M-1 brand stages its M-1 Selection, M-1 Challenge, M-1 Breakthrough events worldwide and its co-produced Strikeforce events in the United States; captivating the live, television and broadband audiences with its superior production values and match-ups.

M-1 Global’s greatest asset is the number one heavyweight fighter in mixed martial arts history, Fedor Emelianenko. With daily coverage on all MMA-related websites in the world, and articles in Time Magazine, LA times and New York times, Fedor and M-1 Global make a lifetime match serving as the catalyst to grow MMA in the 21stcentury.

Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight Tournament Set For August 13.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (July 22, 2010)-Four women, three fights, one night!
With a world title shot on the line, STRIKEFORCE Women’s welterweight prospects Miesha “Takedown” Tate, Carina “Beauty But The Beast” Damm, Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano and Maiju Kujala will compete in the first-ever STRIKEFORCE Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) women’s single-elimination tournament at STRIKEFORCE Challengers on […]

SAN JOSE, Calif. (July 22, 2010)-Four women, three fights, one night!

With a world title shot on the line, STRIKEFORCE Women’s welterweight prospects Miesha “Takedown” Tate, Carina “Beauty But The Beast” Damm, Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano and Maiju Kujala will compete in the first-ever STRIKEFORCE Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) women’s single-elimination tournament at STRIKEFORCE Challengers on Friday, Aug. 13, from Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Ariz., live on SHOWTIME®.

The draw to determine the semi-final matchups for the two-round tournament will take place at the Official Weigh-In on Thursday, Aug. 12. A complete list of tournament rules will be provided in the coming days.

The SHOWTIME telecast (live at 11p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast) will begin with the two semi-final bouts. The winners of each bout will compete in the tournament final later that night, just before the main event matchup of Joe Riggs vs. Louis Taylor. Each of the three tournament fights are scheduled for three, 3-minute rounds.

“We are going to fast-track these four talented prospects in a quest to determine the best in this deep women’s division,” STRIKEFORCE CEO Scott Coker said. “Having all four women square off on one night with the chance to separate themselves from the pack is what STRIKEFORCE Challengers is all about.”

The tournament winner will become the official No. 2 contender in the competitive STRIKEFORCE women’s welterweight division. This Friday, July 23, live on SHOWTIME (11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast), current world champion Sarah Kaufman will risk her 135-pound crown against top-ranked challenger Roxanne Modafferi. The winner of that title fight will face Marloes Coenen next. The tournament winner will be the next in line.

“Marloes has made the move down to welterweight and she will get the next title fight,” Coker said. “She has proven that she belongs in the cage with our champion. So, after the tournament, we’ll have another legitimate contender to challenge for the title.

“We will have some terrific women’s matchups at 135 pounds in the next several months. It all starts this Friday with Kaufman and Modafferi, which is an excellent fight.”
The 23-year-old, 5-foot-7 Tate (9-2), of Olympia, Wash., is known for her superior skills, athleticism and determination. She notched her eighth professional victory on March 26, 2010, by submitting previously unbeaten Zoila “The Warrior Princess” Frausto with a textbook armbar in the second round (4:09) of a hard-fought bout during a STRIKEFORCE Challengers event on SHOWTIME at Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif.

As a teenager, Tate joined her high school boys’ wrestling team in order to compete in a fast-paced, aggressive sport. She was introduced to MMA by a friend in college and, soon thereafter, her desire to challenge herself led to the birth of a professional career.

Recently, Tate began using her MMA skills for a noble cause – rape prevention. Last month, she began production on a DVD in which she and MMA legend Frank Shamrock thoroughly demonstrate MMA techniques that can be used by women to effectively defend themselves against attackers.

Damm (15-3), a 31-year-old resident of Brazil and sister of STRIKEFORCE veteran Rodrigo Damm, has been dubbed “Barbie Girl” by the Brazilian media because of her striking appearance. While competing in Japan in 2006, the 5-foot-4 Damm gained widespread public notoriety and was featured in a clothed pictorial for the Japanese edition of Playboy magazine.

A student of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu since the age of 15 and a professional mixed martial artist since 2004, Damm enters the tournament on a stellar 10-fight win streak. Her last victory, a first-round TKO (punches) over Aline Serio, came last Feb. 27 in Brazil. The Aug. 13 tournament will mark Damm’s third start in The United States. On April 3, 2008, she submitted (armbar) Sophie Bagherdai in the second round (1:52) in Los Angeles. One month later, she crushed Lashonda Knox with a knee strike in just 11 seconds in Racine, Wisc.

Akano, a 35-year-old who fights out of Tokyo, Japan, is a former champion of the Japanese women’s promotion Smackgirl and is an expert in submission holds. Fifteen of her 22 career victories have come by way of submission.

In her professional MMA debut in Tokyo on Nov. 26, 2004, the 5-foot-4 Akano lost a unanimous decision to Megumi Yabushita, but bounced back and reeled off seven straight wins, the last of which was a unanimous decision over American star Debi Purcell in Smackgirl on Feb. 15, 2006.

On April 11, 2009, Akano made her STRIKEFORCE debut when she moved up in weight to challenge the No. 1 female fighter in the world, Cris Cyborg. Despite giving up size to the naturally bigger 5-foot-7, 145-pound Cyborg, Akano fought valiantly and took the hard-hitting Brazilian into the third and final round before being stopped via strikes.

Three months after the loss to Cyborg, Akano rebounded and forced Miki Morifuji to tap out from an armbar in the second round (4:17) in Tokyo.

A woman of many talents, Akano is known for using “Between the Sky,” a song she wrote, as her entrance music.

Kujala (4-1), a native of Imatra, Finland, has already been victorious in tournament competition, winning a single-elimination tournament in The Netherlands on March 27. In the semifinal round of the event, Kujala submitted Akvile Vitkauskaite with a rear-naked choke in the second stanza (4:12) and, in the championship bout, she earned a unanimous decision over Titiana van Polanen after 10 minutes of battle.
Kujala brings a three-fight winning streak to the STRIKEFORCE Challengers cage. Her sole loss came to Aisling Daly via unanimous decision on Nov. 7, 2009.

Tickets for the STRIKEFORCE Challengers event are on sale at the Dodge Theatre Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at (800) 745-3000, and online at www.livenation.com and www.STRIKEFORCE.com.

In the main event, Phoenix native and MMA star Joe “Diesel” Riggs (32-12) will square off with knockout artist Louis Taylor (6-1) at a catch weight of 182 pounds.

A former super heavyweight who once competed at over 300 pounds, the 27-year-old Riggs is now a dangerous threat in multiple STRIKEFORCE divisions. He holds the rare distinction of having competed at heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight and welterweight during the course of an eight-year career.

Taylor, of Chicago, has rattled off two consecutive knockout wins since the STRIKEFORCE and M-1 GLOBAL: Fedor vs. Rogers event in Chicago, Ill. on Nov. 7, 2009. The 5-foot-11 Taylor has scored knockouts in four of his six victories and has only gone to the judges’ scorecards once in his pro career.

Dodge Theatre doors will open at 5:15 p.m. MT for the STRIKEFORCE Challengers event. The first preliminary bout will begin at 6 p.m. and the first main card bout will begin at 8 p.m.

The SHOWTIME telecast will begin at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast.)

STRIKEFORCE Challengers, where tomorrow’s champions are made, is a proving ground for up-and-coming MMA fighters. The series is designed to provide today’s top prospects with the opportunity to step-up their level of competition and demonstrate their ability in a nationally televised event.

Jose Vega Vs. Danny Tims Set For Opening Round Of Bellator Season 3 Bantamweight Tournament.

CHICAGO, Ill. (August 06, 2010) – Longtime rivals Jose Vega and Danny Tims will square off in a long overdue rubber match for an opening round Bellator Season 3 World Bantamweight Tournament fight as Bellator Fighting Championships returns to the Kansas City Power & Light District for the third time this year for Bellator 26 […]

Both longtime mainstays of the talent-rich Midwest MMA circuit, Vega (8-3) and Tims (9-2-1) each earned their way to the Bellator Bantamweight Tournament with impressive showings on their home turf during Bellator Season 2. Tims steamrolled over Strikeforce veteran Brian Davidson en route to a convincing unanimous-decision victory at Bellator 16. Vega knocked out Jarrod Card with a devastating left hook, just 32 seconds into the opening round at Bellator 22.

In their first meeting it was Tims who had his arm raised in victory. However, Vega didn’t agree with the final verdict.

“Our first fight was in his hometown, and I don’t like to be a sore loser, but I got him to admit that I beat him right after that fight,” claimed Vega. “I ended up losing a real close decision, but we all know why they gave him that, because it was in his hometown.”

Tims had a distinctively different recollection of the night’s events.

“I never admitted that. He’s crazy. I remember that I dominated the whole fight. He likes to talk a lot of trash. I can’t wait to fight him. I want to knock him out in the first round.”

When the pair met for the second time in the finals of a 2008 grueling single-evening, eight-man tournament, it was Vega who grabbed the temporary bragging rights.

“In the second round he reversed me while I was ground and pounding him and I up-kicked him right before he got up and he just tapped on the cage,” said Vega. “I think I broke him mentally because he couldn’t take me down or do anything.”

Again, there are two sides to every story and Tims’ is that, “I fought Jose in the finals of that tournament after fighting literally 25 minutes earlier, and by the second round I was throwing up because I was so dehydrated, so I stood up and told the ref I was done.”

Regardless of the conflicting perspectives of their previous meetings, Vega and Tims are both counting down the days to erase all doubt.

“It’s no secret that there is no love lost between these two fast rising bantamweights,” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Vega and Tims both want this fight to settle the score. This fight should be a great kick off to our Bantamweight tournament.”

Bellator 26 will be headlined by opening-round fights in each of Bellator’s three-Season 3 tournaments – Heavyweight, Bantamweight and the Women’s World Championship – as well as a televised feature fight showcasing Bellator Season 2 Welterweight Tournament semifinalist Steve Carl and four additional fights featuring top local fighters from the Kansas City area. More fights will be announced in the coming days.

Bellator has previously played to capacity crowds at the venue on April 29th and June 17th.

Tickets for the event are on sale NOW at ticketmaster.com and at The Midland by AMC box office in downtown Kansas City. General admission tickets start at just $20 in advance/$30 at the door. Ringside and Terrace tickets are also available for $100 and $50 respectively.

You can catch Bellator 26 and all of this season’s Bellator action LIVE on Fox Sports Net, along with action-packed highlight shows on NBC late Saturday nights

About Bellator Fighting Championships

Azevedo Responds To MFC Lightweight Champion Antonio McKee.

There’s little doubt that Luciano Azevedo will give reigning lightweight champ Antonio McKee a stiff challenge when they meet at MFC 26: Retribution.
But Azevedo has proven to be a worthy contender when it comes to meeting McKee head-on in a war of words as well. Given the chance to fire back at the verbose McKee, […]

There’s little doubt that Luciano Azevedo will give reigning lightweight champ Antonio McKee a stiff challenge when they meet at MFC 26: Retribution.

But Azevedo has proven to be a worthy contender when it comes to meeting McKee head-on in a war of words as well. Given the chance to fire back at the verbose McKee, Azevedo armed himself with the biggest gun he could get his hands on and took aim at the belt-holding veteran.

Told that McKee planned to bring a blanket to the ring and tuck him in after a devastating knockout, Azevedo delivered his first strike.

“I’ll have 25 minutes to answer everything he’s said about me face to face. However what I’ve got to say won’t take that much time. It’ll be a quick chat,” said the Brazilian, who meets McKee on Friday, Sept. 10 in Westman Place at the Keystone Centre in Brandon, Manitoba.

Knowing that McKee vowed to wrap up his career and leave his gloves in the ring if Azevedo took him the full five rounds, the 29-year-old declared his own intentions – a second shot across the bow.

“Tell McKee I’m waiting for him … and I want his gloves!” offered Azevedo. “As a fighter it’s obvious he must be respected. He’s been undefeated for seven years and holds the MFC belt. But he’s really crazy and needs to retire. Old men have lapses of memory all the time. It’s not his fault.”

While Azevedo comes in eyeing the belt, the young gun figured the pressure is much heavier on the champ thanks to his brash statements – a third direct hit.

“My responsibility is to beat him with all my strengths,” explained the Sao Paulo native who now fights out of Rio de Janeiro. “Because of what he has said his responsibility is to beat me plus get the knockout or the submission because if it goes to a decision he’s going to retire. Do you know what kind of weight that is on him?

“The guy is a veteran who plays like a rookie. He’s added more and more pressure on his own back. Now he’s got a heavy boulder to carry because each minute that goes by and he hasn’t reached his goal of finishing the fight it becomes more of a concern for him.

“My answer for everything he has said will be in the ring. I’m going to fight and then I’m going to celebrate with my new belt.”

Azevedo has shown no problem stepping into the limelight of big fights before. He holds a career victory over veteran Din Thomas but only eight months before that encounter, he earned a win over Jose Aldo. To this day Azevedo is the only man to ever defeat Aldo, a clear-cut listed member of best pound-for-pound fighters in the world today.

That feat serves as a massive confidence builder as Azevedo sets his sights on taking McKee’s championship belt and putting a sudden halt to his lengthy winning streak.

“The Aldo fight was eighth fight for both of us,” recalled Azevedo. “I remember people talking about the way he crushed guys in his prior seven fights and that my destiny would be the same. The insiders didn’t believe I could submit him even though I had beaten Brazilian black belts. All the odds were against me, but I was very well trained and I won (rear-naked choke in the second round). He even came in overweight and I still accepted the fight despite the disadvantage.”

Despite a solid career fighting all over the world, this will truly be Azevedo’s coming out party. In his first fight on North American soil, he gets a title shot live on international television.

“I started training at 10 years old in the same neighborhood I live in today. The outcome of my hard work is going to be rewarded again coming to the MFC and getting a title shot.

“I’ve never stopped training and I’ve only improved. I’d like to tell the fans that I’ll make the show worth watching. They’ll see a great fight. I’m going to show that my stand-up skills are sharp and I want to get a knockout.”

Bellator Fighting Championships Adds Bryan Goldsby To Season 3 Bantamweight Tournament.

CHICAGO, Ill. (August 05, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that dynamic striker and Macon, GA native Bryan Goldsby has officially been added to the Bellator Season 3 World Bantamweight Tournament.
Goldsby sent a direct message to Bellator officials during Bellator 14 when he out-classed MMA trailblazer and heavily favored WEC veteran Jeff […]

Goldsby sent a direct message to Bellator officials during Bellator 14 when he out-classed MMA trailblazer and heavily favored WEC veteran Jeff Curran in Curran’s hometown of Chicago, IL. With the victory Goldsby staked his claim as one of the eight participants in Bellator’s upcoming 135 lb tournament.

Goldsby is the sixth confirmed participant in the Bantamweight Tournament along with the explosive Jose Vega, young up-and-comer Danny Tims, Las Vegas-based Cobra-Kai Jiu-Jitsu instructor Ulysses Gomez, fast-rising Wyoming native Nick Mamalis and Minnesota-based powerhouse Travis “The Hurricane” Reddinger.

“Bryan Goldsby is one of those guys, very much like Toby Imada, whose record does not reflect the tremendous skill and potential that he brings to the sport,” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “He has very solid stand-up game mixed with speed and wrestling, which he displayed in his impressive victory over Jeff Curran, and that makes him an difficult match up for anyone in this tournament.”

Goldsby’s well-rounded ability comes from his diverse training background. He began wrestling in 7th grade before getting his start in Tae Kwon Do when he was just 12 years old. After finishing his military career in 2006 Goldsby began training jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai, to completely hone his game.

With a new level of confidence that stems directly from his recent victory over Curran, Goldsby fully intends to continue in his winning ways on his quest to become Bellator’s first ever bantamweight champion.

“When I get in there, I’m comfortable because I can hang wherever the fight goes,” said Goldsby. “I feel like I have the skills to beat anybody, I’m fine with whoever they decided to put in front of me. I’m just excited for the opportunity and itching to get this thing started.”

About Bellator Fighting Championships