Bellator Fighting Championships

MMA Live for March 18, 2010

Roger Huerta joins the show to discuss his recent signing with Bellator Fighting Championships.  Dan Henderson also checks in, about a month before his Strikeforce title fight.  They also offer up a complete preview of UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones.

Bellator Signs Roger Huerta

CHICAGO, Ill. — Roger Huerta, the top free agent in MMA and one of the sport’s brightest young stars, announced today that he has signed an exclusive contract with Bellator Fighting Championships and will compete in the promotion’s upcoming Season 2 lightweight tournament.

The 26-year-old Huerta (20-3-1) comes to Bellator in the prime of his career after a 3½-year run in the UFC, where he rose to international prominence with wins over top talents like Clay Guida, Leonard Garcia and John Halverson and became the first MMA fighter ever to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

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Bellator Expected to Announce Signing of Roger Huerta

The Bellator Fighting Championships’ is expected to announced the signing of former UFC lightweight contender Roger Huerta. Huerta will compete in Bellator’s season two eight-man lightweight tournament.

According to MMA Junkie, Bellator has called for a video press conference Monday at 3 PM ET that will stream live at Bellator.com.

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Bellator Adds Hess, Loeffler to 185 Tournament

CHICAGO, Ill. – Bellator Fighting Championships made two more noteworthy additions to its upcoming Season 2 middleweight tournament today with the signings of 9-1-1 Bellator Season 1 tournament finalist Jared Hess and 18-4 MMA veteran Sean “The Destroyer” Loeffler.

Hess and Loeffler are the fourth and fifth confirmed participants in the eight-man middleweight tournament, joining Bryan “The Beast” Baker, Matt Major and Eric Schambari. Overall, the group boasts a combined winning percentage of .859 (55 wins, 8 losses and 1 draw).

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Toby Imada Returns to Bellator For Season 2 Tournament

CHICAGO, Ill. – Toby Imada, whose jaw-dropping “Submission of the Year” helped put Bellator Fighting Championships on the map during its debut season, will return to the promotion for its upcoming Season 2 lightweight tournament.

Imada’s remarkable submission, an inverted triangle choke of the heavily favored Jorge Masvidal at Bellator V, became an overnight YouTube sensation (more than 650,000 people have watched it online to date) and took home honors for “Submission of the Year” from the 2009 World MMA Awards and virtually every major MMA news site.

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Bellator Signs Two New Lightweights

An undefeated fighter from Cincinnati and a police officer from Scandinavia are the latest additions to Bellator Fighting Championships’ upcoming Season 2 lightweight tournament.

The two fighters — Janne Tulirinta (12-3) and Chad Hinton (6-0) — join Ferrid Kheder, Mike Ricci and Carey Vanier in the nationally televised tournament, which begins April 8th.  The last three 155 lbs. fighters will be announced later this month.

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Quick Hits: Lawal-Randleman Targeted for Sengoku, Alvarez Possible for DREAM & More

— Popular heavyweight prospect Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman are reportedly in talks to face each other at Sengoku’s “Eleventh Battle” event, which would take place on November 7 in Japan. Lawal’s manager, Ryan Parsons, has confirmed that he has received a bout agreement from World Victory Road and is “currently looking it over”. [Sherdog.com]

— Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who has fought for DREAM on three separate occasions, could reportedly be headed back to the organization for a bout against Katsunori Kikuno at DREAM.12 on October 25 in Japan. Alvarez’s participation overseas seemingly depends on the level of fighter DREAM would be willing to send over to Bellator in a talent exchange for Bellator’s upcoming second season this winter. [MMA Weekly]

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Quote of the Day: Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney Talks New TV Deal

”[The TV deal] is finished, it’s done. We’ll be announcing it very, very shortly—in all likelihood, within the next 12 days. We have a situation set up now where we’ll be able to give over 150 million people each week the opportunity to tune in and watch what we’re doing, and that’s a very exciting thing… You’ll be able to watch Bellator season two live. There were a lot of issues at play that were reasons for the delay last season, but we’re not constrained by that moving forward.”

In a new interview with Sherdog.com‘s Jake Rossen, Bellator Fighting Championships figurehead Bjorn Rebney discusses his promotion’s new television deal and what fans can expect during Bellator’s upcoming second season, which is scheduled to begin in January 2010.

0:49 Second KO Closes Out Memorable Season for Bellator

Bellator Fighting Championships closed-out its groundbreaking premiere tournament season by crowning two new world champions, however, the one of the biggest highlights of night came from a special feature bout.

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Alvarez, Lombard Earn Bellator Titles

Philadelphia native Eddie Alvarez and American Top Team product Hector Lombard were both awarded title belts from the upstart Bellator Fighting Championships promotion following clinching wins in their respective tournament finals on Friday night.

Those in attendance at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida saw Alvarez score a second-round submission of Toby Imada in the Bellator welterweight final while Lombard bloodied and battered previously unbeaten prospect Jared Hess until the ringside doctor halted their middleweight title bout in the fourth round.

Other notable fights saw Jorge Masvidal submit Eric Reynolds with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their bout and Rosi Sexton defeat Valerie Coolbaugh via submission as well.

 

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