ACL Injury Forces Terry Etim Out Of Lightweight Tournament, Tim Welch Now Enters Tournament Field

Vegh vs. Newton Clash; The Caveman Returns to Kansas

Newport Beach, Calif. (March 15, 2014) – The Bellator Light Heavyweight World Title will be settled on Friday, March 21^st from the Kansas Star Arena, live on Spike TV as Attila Vegh will fight “The Hardcore Kid” Emmanuel Newton in a highly anticipated clash at 205 pounds. The night will also feature the start of the Bellator Lightweight Tournament. Liverpool native Terry Etim was originally scheduled to compete in his first Bellator Tournament, but Etim has suffered an ACL injury and tournament alternate Tim Welch will now take his place.   

The event will broadcast live starting at 9 p.m. EST/ 8 p.m. CT on Spike TV.  The preliminary card will be streamed live and free exclusively on Spike.com starting at 6 p.m. CT. Tickets for the event are on sale now and can be purchased at www.kansasstararena.com or by visiting the Kanas Star Arena Box Office.

Only 23, Welch returns to the Bellator cage after appearing on Spike TV’s “Fight Master”. The Montana native was originally scheduled to fight on the preliminary portion of the card, but will now face Derek Campos in the opening round of the Bellator Lightweight Tournament.

The full fight card is listed below.

MAIN CARDLight Heavyweight World Title: Attila Vegh (29-4) vs. Emanuel Newton (22-7)
Bellator Lightweight Tournament Opening Round: David Rickels (15-2) vs. Patricky Pitbull (11-5)
Bellator Lightweight Tournament Opening Round: Marcin Held (16-3) vs. Rodrigo Cavalheiro (14-2)
Bellator Lightweight Tournament Opening Round: Tim Welch (10-4) vs. Derek Campos (13-3)

PRELIMINARY CARD:Bellator Lightweight Tournament Opening Round: Brandon Girtz (10-3) vs. Derek Anderson (10-0)
Lightweight Feature Fight: Marcio Navarro (9-9) vs. Bobby Cooper (8-4)
Lightweight Feature Fight: Donnie Bell (8-2) vs. Eric Wisely (21-9)
Bantamweight Feature Fight: Tory Bogguess (10-7) vs. L.C. Davis (20-6)
Middleweight Feature Fight: Brian Rogers (10-6) vs. Gary Tapusoa (8-2)
Heavyweight Feature Fight: Maurice Jackson (2-1) vs. Daniel Gallemore (2-2)
Featherweight Feature Fight: Israel Giron (17-3) vs. Cody Carrillo (4-7)  

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA, follow Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney @BjornRebney and check out Bellator on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/BellatorMMA          

Bellator 113 Fight Card Finalized From Kansas Star Arena on Friday, March 21st Live on Spike TV

Vegh vs. Newton Clash; The Caveman Returns to Kansas

Newport Beach, Calif. (February 7, 2014) – The Bellator Light Heavyweight World Title will be settled on Friday, March 21^st from the Kansas Star Arena, live on Spike TV.  The event is  headlined by the World title fight when Champion Attila Vegh defends his belt against “The Hardcore Kid” Emmanuel Newton as well as the opening rounds of the Bellator Lightweight Tournament, including Kansas’s own David “The Caveman” Rickels facing Brazilian Knockout artist Patricky Pitbull, and full card of local talent.

The event will broadcast live starting at 9 p.m. EST/ 8 p.m. CT on Spike TV.  The preliminary card will be streamed live and free exclusively on Spike.com starting at 6 p.m. CT. Tickets for the event are on sale now and can be purchased at www.kansasstararena.com or by visiting the Kanas Star Arena Box Office.

Stepping into the cage for the first time since October of 2012, Gary Tapusoa will kick off the Spike.com show in a fight against Brian Rogers. Known for his knockout power, Rogers has won eight of his 10 professional fights by KO and is looking to collect another knockout against Tapusoa.

After defeating Matt Uhde via TKO within 52 seconds during his Bellator debut in October, Maurice Jackson will return to the Bellator cage and face Daniel Gallemore in a heavyweight battle. Jackson has won all of his professional victories by first round KO or submission and sees his fight with Gallemore ending with a quick finish.

At 33 years old, L.C. Davis will make his Bellator debut against Tory Bogguess.  With an impressive 20-6 record, Davis will look to his previous experiences in the cage to get past Bogguess, who has won his previous two fights by first round submission.

With a 17-3 professional record, submission ace Israel Giron will meet Kansas native Cody Carrillo under the bright lights on March 21^st. Carrillo is ready to put on an explosive fight for his home state crowd, but will have to hold off Giron who has 13 victories by submission. Giron will be making his Bellator debut after being discovered during Bellator’s recent Latin American tryouts.

After being featured as a participant on Bellator MMA’s reality TV show Fight Master, Tim Welch will look to make his mark in the Bellator cage against Donnie Bell. Heading into this fight on a three-fight win streak all coming by first round submission, Bell’s ground game will be his biggest asset against Welch.

Kansas’s own Marcio Navarro will put his talents to the test and face Bobby Cooper in a lightweight bout.  Cooper will step into the Bellator cage for the first time and is ready to give the Kansas Star Arena fans an exciting fight.

The full fight card is listed below.

MAIN CARDLight Heavyweight World Title: Attila Vegh (29-4) vs. Emanuel Newton (22-7)
Bellator Lightweight Tournament Opening Round: David Rickels (15-2) vs. Patricky Pitbull (11-5)
Bellator Lightweight Tournament Opening Round: Marcin Held (16-3) vs. Rodrigo Cavalheiro (14-2)
Bellator Lightweight Tournament Opening Round: Terry Etim (16-5) vs. Derek Anderson (10-0)

PRELIMINARY CARD:Bellator Lightweight Tournament Opening Round: Brandon Girtz (10-3) vs. Derek Campos (13-3)
Lightweight Feature Fight: Marcio Navarro (9-9) vs. Bobby Cooper (8-4)
Lightweight Feature Fight: Donnie Bell (8-2) vs. Tim Welch (10-4)
Bantamweight Feature Fight: Tory Bogguess (10-7) vs. L.C. Davis (20-6)
Middleweight Feature Fight: Brian Rogers (10-6) vs. Gary Tapusoa (8-2)
Heavyweight Feature Fight: Maurice Jackson (2-1) vs. Daniel Gallemore (2-2)
Featherweight Feature Fight: Israel Giron (17-3) vs. Cody Carrillo (4-7)  

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          

King Mo Returns As Bellator MMA Invades Utah’s Maverik Center February 21st Live on Spike

Utah’s Own Rad Martinez Battles For Featherweight Tournament Crown

Newport Beach, CA. (January 29, 2013) – After an explosive knockout victory in his Bellator debut, King Mo is set to return to the Bellator cage when he battles “The Hardcore Kid” Emmanuel Newton in a Light Heavyweight Semifinal fight on February 21^st from Utah’s Maverik Center live on Spike TV. The night will also feature the long anticipated Featherweight Tournament Finals as Utah’s Own Rad Martinez battles the dynamic Russian striker Shahbulat Shamhalaev for a $100,000 Tournament prize and a guaranteed title shot.

Tickets for the event start as low as $40 and can be purchased by visiting Ticketmaster.com, Bellator.com and the Maverik Center Box Office.

The event will broadcast LIVE starting at 8 p.m. MST on Spike, as well as in Spanish language on mun2. The preliminary card will be streamed LIVE and FREE on Spike.com starting at 6 p.m. MST.

Widely regarded as one of the best Light Heavyweights in the world, King Mo is well aware of the challenges that await him as Newton holds an impressive arsenal of wrestling and standup skills that to date with be King Mo’s toughest tournament challenge. Having trained together at the legendary American Kickboxing Academy, both competitors are well aware of what’s at stake February 21^st.

“I said it after my quarterfinal win, and I’ll say it again, I’m looking to smash this dude,” King Mo said. “Emmanuel is a tough guy, but I know where my game is at, and if I focus on me, we won’t have any issues on February 21^st.  I’m always looking for that first round knockout, and that’s it.”

“This is my time. Everyone knows Mo and what he brings to the table, and he’s the guy I have to get through to get to my belt,” Newton said. “The belt is what I’m here for, and it doesn’t matter who is in my way to get there.”

For Martinez, the West Jordan native makes his Utah homecoming riding an impressive five fight win streak, including Bellator Tournament victories over top featherweights Nazareno Malegarie and Wagnney Fabiano. Already tasked with preparing for the biggest fight of his career, Martinez knows what’s at stake with his hometown crowd behind him.

“To have the opportunity to fight in Salt Lake City for the Bellator Featherweight Tournament Championship is just a dream come true,” Martinez said. “Utah has a great base of MMA fans, but we’ve never had a big MMA promotion come to Salt Lake City, so it’s a great honor to be headlining Utah’s first large scale MMA event.”

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA, follow Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney @BjornRebney and check out Bellator on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/Bellator

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.