Hometown Favorite Rad Martinez Returns In Featherweight Action
Newport Beach, Calif. (January 15, 2014) – A “Storm” is coming to Salt Lake as the always dangerous Alexander Shlemenko will put his Middleweight World Title and twelve fight win streak on the line against Tournament winner Brennan Ward live on Spike TV Friday, March 28th from Utah’s Maverik Center at Bellator 114. The night will also feature the Bellator return of fan favorite and Utah’s own Rad Martinez, who fights Edson Berto in a featherweight battle.
The event will broadcast live at 9 p.m. EST/ 8 p.m. CST on Spike TV. The preliminary card will be streamed live and free on Spike.com beginning at 7 p.m. EST/ 6 p.m. CST. Tickets for the event will be on sale on Friday, January 17th and can be purchased by visiting Ticketmaster.com, Bellator.com and the Maverik Center Box Office.
Entering the fight riding a 12-fight win streak including victories over Doug Marshall, Brett Cooper, Maiquel Falcao and Brian Rogers, Shlemenko is looking to move his record to an incredible 50-7 while defending his Bellator crown yet again, this time against the promising Ward.
“I saw Brennan Ward in the last tournament, he was impressive,” Shlemenko said. “But he is a young fighter, while I have experience on my side. My experience will be my strongest weapon in this fight.”
Ward punched his ticket to a title shot with three second round finishes during Bellator’s last Middleweight Tournament, including knockout victories over Justin Torrey and Mikkel Parlo. Known for his brash personality and outspoken nature, “The Irish Bad Boy” is ready to make a statement on March 28th.
“Simply put, I'm looking forward to bringing the heat and taking the belt away, Cold War style,” Ward said.
The night will also feature a featherweight showdown between Utah native Rad Martinez, who returns to the Bellator cage after suffering defeat in the Featherweight Tournament finals. Now 35, Martinez is aware the time isn’t on his side, and has decided this fight will be the last in his impressive career. After being introduced to the world on ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” for his incredibly moving story of being the primary caretaker for his seriously injured father was told, Martinez made his mark in Bellator, compiling a 4-1 record including victories of Nazareno Malegarie and Wagnney Fabiano. On March 28th, Martinez will walk away from MMA, but for all the right reasons.
“I like to think I’ve had a pretty good career and as I’m getting older, I’ve got a beautiful wife and a daughter on the way, the time is right to walk away and focus on being a husband and a father,” Martinez said. “The time was right to walk away while I still have my health, and to be a fantastic father and husband. It means so much to me that Bellator would give me my last fight in Utah so I can have a sendoff in front of all my friends and family. Bellator has treated me so well through my career, and I’m incredibly proud to have my last fight in the Bellator cage.”
More information will be made available in the coming weeks on Bellator 114.
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 140 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 175 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.
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