Featherweight

9-1 featherweight Wilson Reis returning to Bellator Fighting Championships for Season 2 tournament

by

CHICAGO, Ill. (February 8, 2010) – Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that 9-1 featherweight standout Wilson Reis will return for Bellator’s Season 2 featherweight tournament looking to avenge his Season 1 loss to Bellator Champion  Joe Soto. The 25-year-old Reis is a back belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and, in 2008, took home the first-ever EliteXC … Read more

World Champion wrestler, MMA prodigy Joe Warren signs with Bellator Fighting Championships

by

CHICAGO, Ill. (February 1, 2010) – Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that three-time world champion Greco-Roman wrestler and highly-sought-after MMA prodigy Joe Warren has signed a long-term promotional agreement with Bellator and will compete in the promotion’s upcoming featherweight (145 lbs.) tournament this April on FOX Sports Net, NBC and Telemundo. Warren is known throughout … Read more

Bao Quach added to Bellator featherweight tournament

by
Photo by Sherdog.com

CHICAGO, Ill. (January 15, 2010) – Bellator Fighting Championships continued to solidify its much-talked-about featherweight division today with the announcement that Bao Quach, one of the world’s most devastating 145-lb. strikers, will compete in the promotion’s Season 2 tournament.

The 30-year-old Californian is in the midst of a prolonged power surge, with wins in 11 of his last 12 fights. Four of those fights came via KO or TKO in during Round 1.

Accordingly, Quach is regarded as one of MMA’s top strikers – a  reputation that he has continued to build by training under world-class martial arts coach Colin Oyama, who has also schooled the likes of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Tito Ortiz.

Read more

Bellator Fighting Championships secures 12-0 Brazilian featherweight phenom Patricio Pitbull

by
Photo by Sherdog.com - Patricio "Pitbull" Freire

CHICAGO, Ill. (January 13, 2010) – Bellator Fighting Championships’ search for its next great featherweight has moved south to Brazil, where it was announced today that undefeated MMA phenom Patricio Pitbull has signed a long-term promotional agreement and will compete in Bellator’s Season 2 tournament.

The 23-year-old Pitbull is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and is known throughout his home country for his devastating striking ability. He boasts a perfect 12-0 record with all but two of his fights finishing via KO, TKO or submission. Six of these 10 early finishes occurred in Round 1.

“In Bellator Season 1, Joe Soto came from nowhere to win our featherweight tournament and a six-figure check in just 90 days” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “I believe Patricio Pitbull has the chance to do the same thing in Season 2. While he may be undiscovered by most U.S. fans, I can tell you that he is the real deal.  I encourage you to go to YouTube and check him out for yourself.”

Read more

Undefeated Canadian Featherweight William Romero signs exclusive agreement with Bellator Fighting Championships

by

CHICAGO, Ill. (January 7, 2010) – Bellator Fighting Championships announced yet another major offseason addition on Thursday with the signing of undefeated featherweight William Romero.

Romero, 27, one of Canada’s most talked-about young mixed martial artists, boasts an unblemished pro MMA record of 5-0. He was recently touted by MMAcanada.net – one of that country’s top MMA news sources – as “the real deal.” His most recent fight ended by KO after just 17 seconds.

“MMA fans north of the border know the name William Romero and now fans in the U.S. are going to have the chance to know it too,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “We are excited to welcome him to our organization.”

Read more

Manny Gamburyan happy to be in WEC featherweight division

by

After years of competing at higher weight classes, Manny Gamburyan (10-5) at only 5’5″ has been fighting an uphill battle most of his career. On June 7th that will all change when the Armenian MMA fighter makes his WEC debut and steps in to face undefeated New York native John Franchi (5-0) at featherweight (145 lbs.).

In a new press release PRO MMA (promma.info) received Tuesday from the WEC, Gamburyan, an Ultimate Fighter season five finalist, talks about making the move from fighting in the UFC lightweight division to the WEC’s featherweight division, “At 155 I was pretty shredded, so at 145 I’ll be way shredded. I’ll probably be able to overpower people more with my strength, but I’m still not going to fight with my muscles. I’ll fight with my head and use my techniques more than anything. My style is to always attack. I’m always going to attack you whether I get knocked out or knock you out.”

Read more

“Bellator VI” lands in Texas on May 8

by

On Friday May 8, 2009 Bellator Fighting Championships continues its 12-week MMA tournament series with “Bellator VI” at the Central Pavilion Arena at Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown, Texas.

“Bellator VI” will feature the featherweight (145 lbs.) semi-finals with Wilson Reis (7-0) vs. Joe Soto (4-0) and Yahir Reyes (13-5) vs. Estevan Payan (7-1). The winner of each semi-final bout will receive $50,000 and move forward to face each other at the featherweight tournament finals to be held June 19th in Hollywood, Florida.

“Bellator VI” will also play host to six under card matches including a showdown between Nick Gonzalez (14-7) and Luis Palomino (9-5), who will be looking to bounce back after both fighters were eliminated from the featherweight tournament series in prior bouts.

Read more

Weight issues with DREAM’s featherweight tournament

by

When Gary Shaw left MMA many were excited because, well for one reason anyway, he took his ridiculous weight classes with him. No longer would MMA fans have to watch fighters contend for his 160 lb title or even worse the 140 lb title.

As of right now, under the unified rules, there are nine weight classes and the general consensus is that it should stay that way. There was widespread public outcry when “Big” John McCarthy and the Association of Boxing Commissions tried to expand to fourteen last July.

So what does this all have to do with DREAM? When it was first made public that the promotion was organizing a featherweight tournament, the actual weight class had not yet been determined. Even after several of the participants had been named there was no word on the actual weight. Jordan Breen, on his radio show, said that the promotion was trying to appeal to Japanese star Norifumi Yamamoto by making the weight class whatever worked best for him.

Read more

Mike Thomas Brown is for real

by

Mike Thomas Brown did tonight at WEC 39 what no other man has been able to do, he finished Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia. Not only did he finish him, he demolished him in the first round of a five round featherweight title fight.

Garcia was coming off a very impressive win over Jens Pulver and his only three losses have come by decision to fighters like Cole Miller and a war that people still talk about that made the cover of Sport’s Illustrated with Roger Huerta. Garcia was a slight underdog coming into WEC 39 but probably no one expected the fight to end so quickly. He’s known for his toughness, he’s known for slugging it out, being able to take punishment, and to keep going.

Read more

RESULTS & THOUGHTS – – – WEC (WORLD EXTREME CAGEFIGHTING) – FABER vs. PULVER June 1, 2008

by

WEC (WORLD EXTREME CAGEFIGHTING) – FABER vs. PULVER June 1, 2008 by: Jack Bratcher This event took place in Sacramento, California at the Arco Arena and was shown Live on the Versus Television Station. Rob McCullough vs. Kenny Alexander – Frank Mir commentating, said it perfectly, this fight looked like a sparring match. He said … Read more