CHICAGO, Ill. (December 20, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships today announced the promotion’s inaugural Light Heavyweight World Championship Tournament which will take place in Bellator’s much anticipated fourth season. The eight-man 205 lbs. Tournament will start in March, 2011. The eight Light Heavyweights will determine their own destiny in the cage on the road to the first Bellator Light Heavyweight Championship belt and $100,000 to the tournament winner.
An exhaustive search is currently underway to find the best available light heavyweights the MMA world has to offer. With six of the eight fighters already selected, announcements regarding confirmed participants of the 2011 Bellator Light Heavyweight Tournament are anticipated in the coming days..
“We’ve wanted to add a Light Heavyweight World Championship Tournament since Season 1, but wanted to ensure that when we did it, we had a great group fighting for the title. Now, we do,” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “One of the best parts of my job is handing over the Bellator World Title belt to a new champion, and I’ll have the pleasure of doing it again this upcoming season.”
Some of Bellator’s most electrifying moments have come during Championship fights, including current Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez defeating Toby Imada with a devastating rear naked choke submission, Featherweight Champion Joe Warren rallying back from the brink of defeat to knockout Joe Soto, and Zoila “The Warrior Princess” Frausto beating the previously undefeated and #1 ranked pound for pound female fighter Megumi Fujii.
Current Bellator Champions include, Hector Lombard at middleweight, Ben Askren at welterweight, Eddie Alvarez at lightweight, Joe Warren at featherweight, Zack Makovsky at bantamweight, Cole Konrad at heavyweight and Zoila Frausto in the women’s 115 lbs. Division.
For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator