New York, NY, March 6, 2012- Bellator Fighting Championships’ Season 6 on MTV2 (simulcast in HD on Epix) kicks off with a showdown between two of the world’s most exciting fighters as Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren takes on top contender Pat Curran on Friday, March 9 at 8:00pm ET/PT. Emanating from The Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind., just outside of Chicago, the two-hour live fight card will also feature four quarterfinal fights in the season’s featherweight tournament. Spike.com will also run the fight card’s prelims beginning at 7:00 PM.
After an unsuccessful one-fight stint at bantamweight last September, Warren (7-2), fighting out of Denver, Colo., is back defending his Bellator featherweight belt against the hard-hitting Curran. The self-proclaimed “Baddest Man on the Planet,” Warren is a world-class grappler having placed first in the Pan American Games and World Championships in Greco-Roman wrestling in 2006. A versatile champion, Warren has dominated the 145-pound weight class in Bellator and hasn’t lost in the division in over 2 ½ years.
Fighting out of nearby Crystal Lake, Ill., Curran (16-4), who is riding a three-fight winning streak, will have the hometown crowd advantage as he tries to ascend to the top of Bellator’s featherweight division. Curran’s most recent victory came over Marlon Sandro in the Season 4 featherweight finale last August, earning him a shot at Warren’s title. Curran is the first fighter to win two Bellator tournaments in two different weight classes. (He won the lightweight tournament in June 2010).
Also on the fight card, the Season 6 Featherweight Tournament kicks off as Season 4 finalist Marlon Sandro (20-3) takes on Roberto Vargas. A member of the renowned Team Nova Uniao, Sandro is widely regarded as one of the top featherweights in the world. A former wrestler at Cal-State Bakersfield, Vargas has parlayed his wrestling pedigree into MMA success, boasting a 12-1 record with three knockouts and four submissions.
Top featherweight prospect Alexandre “PoPo” Bezerra (12-1) has won his last seven pro fights entering his first Bellator tournament against fellow Brazilian Genair da Silva. In another quarterfinal bout, Daniel Straus (17-4) returns to the Bellator cage after nearly a year as he faces off against the undefeated Jeremy Spoon, who brings a spotless 12-0 record to the cage, including eight submission victories.
Born in Thailand and raised in England, the UK’s best featherweight Ronnie Mann (21-4) has five of his last six fights and is facing his toughest test to date when he takes on dangerous veteran Mike Corey (14-2). A local fighter fighting out of Chicago, Corey was on a five-bout winning streak before fighting to a draw against Chris Horodecki in November.
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