Bellator MMA will return to New Mexico as the Santa Ana Star Center plays host to the Toughest Tournament in Sports on Friday, October 25^th. The night will feature the Bellator Lightweight Semifinals and a host of New Mexico’s top talent.

Tickets for the event are on sale now and can be purchased at Bellator.com or by visiting The Santa Ana Star Center box office. The event will broadcast LIVE starting at 7 p.m. MST on Spike TV and the preliminary card will be streamed LIVE and FREE on Spike.com starting at 5 p.m. MST.

Meeting in the middle of the cage for the second time, Saad Awad will face Will Brooks in the Bellator Lightweight Semifinal. After finishing Martin Stapleton with a first round submission in the opening rounds and winning his previous five victories by first round finishes, Awad sees his fight with Brooks ending the same way.

“You’re going to see the best Saad Awad you’ve seen to date,” Awad said. “Fans are definitely going to see a fight of the night performance. I plan on pushing the pace every minute he’s in there with me.  I’m taking this tournament one fight at a time, but as long as I am in the cage it’s do or die for me and I don’t plan on dying anytime soon. “

After suffering his only professional loss to Awad in the Season 8 Lightweight Tournament Semifinals, Brooks is anxious to get back in the cage and is looking for redemption on October 25^th.

“I’m very excited and beyond ready for this semifinal fight against Awad,” Brooks said. “Unfortunately I wasn’t able to finish what I started in the first tournament, but this time around things will end differently. I continue to improve my game every day and stay focused on the goal at hand, which is beating Awad and moving on in the tournament.”

Rounding out the lightweight semifinals, Bellator veteran Ricardo Tirloni will fight Russian submission artist Tiger Sarnavskiy. With a strong performance in the opening round against Rich Clementi, Tirloni will turn to his veteran experience to hold off Sarnavskiy and make his way through the Toughest Tournament in Sports.

Six additional New Mexico athletes will fight on the preliminary card, held in conjunction with Orthrus Promotions. All of the preliminary fights will card will be streamed exclusively on Spike.com.

The full fight card is listed below.

MAIN CARD:
Bellator Lightweight Tournament Semifinal: Saad Awad (15-5) vs. Will Brooks (11-1)
Bellator Lightweight Tournament Semifinal: Ricardo Tirloni (16-4) vs. Tiger Sarnavskiy (24-1)

Heavyweight Feature Fight: Ron Sparks (8-2) vs. Mighty Mo (4-2)
Middleweight Feature Fight: Eugene Fadiora (12-1) vs. Andreas Spang (8-3)

PRELIMINARY CARD:
Bantamweight Feature Fight: Steve Garcia (1-0) vs. Shawn Bunch (2-0)
Middleweight Feature Fight: Eddie Larrea (17-23) vs. Rocky Ramirez (4-4-1)
Bantamweight Feature Fight: Adrian Cruz (5-0) vs. Jesse Brock (14-7)
Bantamweight Feature Fight: Luis Nogueira (15-3-1) vs. Frank Baca (16-3)
Light Heavyweight Feature Fight: Volkan Oezdemir (9-0) vs. Josh Lanier (3-7)
Heavyweight Feature Fight: Joseph Bryant (4-2) vs. Raphael Butler (6-0)

Featherweight Feature Fight: Angelo Sanchez (12-3) vs. Desmond Green (8-2)

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 115 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.

About Orthrus Promotions

Orthrus Promotions is a professional entertainment company, bringing the very best in entertainment value.  Orthrus currently operates and hosts concerts in several states, but proudly calls New Mexico their home.  Originally a music entertainment company, Orthrus has now expanded into the fight scene, partnering with Bellator, to bring great MMA events to the people of New Mexico