Marcus ‘Lelo’ Aurelio to make Bellator debut in Tunica, Mississippi

Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that Welterweight Marcus “Lelo” Aurelio (6-1) has joined the promotion’s ranks. Aurelio will make his debut in the final “Summer Series” event of 2012: Bellator 73; which will take place August 24 at Harrah’s Tunica Hotel and Casino in Tunica, Mississippi. “Lelo” is not to be confused with the Lightweight fighter of the same name who fought in Pride and UFC.
Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney made the announcement: “Marcus is an

Bellator 71 Recap and Results: Brett Rogers is victorious in debut

This Friday night Bellator 71 took place at The Mountaineer Casino, Resort and Racetrack in Chester, West Virginia. Travis Wiuff, Attila Vegh, Emanuel Newton, and Tim Carpenter won their quarterfinal fights and will now move up to the semifinals. Strikeforce veteran Brett “the Grim” Rogers made his Bellator debut with a TKO win over Kevin Asplund in the Heavyweight fight attached to the Main card.Rogers and Asplund were former friends and training partners. Asplund came in off of a 19-fight win streak.

Bellator 71 weigh-in results for Summer Series Light Heavyweight Tournament

The Bellator 71 weigh-ins have been completed from Chester, West Virginia in preparation for Bellator’s Friday night event at The Mountaineer Casino, Resort and Racetrack, which features the quarterfinals of the Bellator Summer Series Light Heavyweight Tournament.In the Light Heavyweight Tournament, Rich Hale was originally scheduled to fight, but was replaced due to illness by Tim Carpenter, who will take on Beau Tribolet. In a Heavyweight Feature Fight, former Strikeforce veteran Brett Rogers will

Top prospect Alexander Sarnavskiy signs on with Bellator

Bellator Fighting Championships has just signed undefeated lightweight Alexander “Tiger” Sarnavskiy (20-0) for its Season Seven Lightweight Tournament, the promotion announced on Tuesday.
Ranked as one of the top prospects in the world with a polished ground game, Sarnavskiy trains under one of the best technical strikers in the sport: Bellator Middleweight World Title Challenger Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko. Sarnavskiy wants to follow his coach’s lead: “Alexander Shlemenko has

Five misconceptions about Fedor Emelianenko

As Fedor Emelianenko heads into what has been billed as his “farewell bout”, misconceptions about “The Last Emperor” continue to swirl around the internet. It is one thing for a fighter to be called “the greatest martial artist of all time” by promoters, fans and management times; it is quite another to receive such praise from a fighter’s peers. Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez and others have gone on record saying that Emelianenko was one of the best.
Despite his record of 33 wins, 4 losses and 1 “No

Top US Freestyle Wrestler, Shawn Bunch, signs with Bellator

Shawn Bunch, one of America’s top freestyle wrestlers has signed with Bellator, reports Ariel Helwani on his Twitter feed.

Former U.S. Olympic Wrestling Hopeful Shawn Bunch (@bunchthegreat) Signs With Bellator — mmafighting.com/bellator/2012/…
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 18, 2012

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney posted the following on his Twitter feed, which was retweeted by Bunch:

If you’re a wrestling fan & its in your blood, stay tuned tomorrow for an announcement about another

Pat Curran vs. Joe Warren, and four other great Bellator Season Six fights

If you have not been watching Bellator this year, then you have been missing out. When compared to the two larger MMA promotions: the fighters are different, they are on MTV2 instead of Pay-per-view or Fox/FX/Facebook and the purses and venues are smaller.  However, their fights deliver without question.What they may lack in “flash” or “star power” they make up for in substance if not raw violence. To be fair, though, Bellator’s fighters are becoming stars in their own right. Personally, I feel

Undefeated Sambo Champ, Vitaly Minakov, signs with Bellator

Bellator Fighting Championships has just announced the addition of a new heavyweight fighter to their roster: Vitaly Minakov (8-0). Minakov is a four-time World Sambo Champion and comes into the promotion with an unblemished record and a recent knockout victory of Bellator veteran Eddie Sanchez; his third knockout win in his last four victories.
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said today via press release: “There has been tremendous buzz about Vitaly worldwide. He has an incredible Sambo background

Bellator 71: Fight Card for Light Heavyweight Tournament Quarterfinals

Bellator Fighting Championships has announced the fight card for  Bellator 71 and the start of the Bellator Summer Series Light Heavyweight Tournament. This card is set to take place at The Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in Chester, West Virginia on Friday, June 22 and will be broadcast on MTV2. Featuring a main card that includes Travis Wiuff vs. Chris Davis and Attila Vegh vs. Zelg Galesic; Bellator 71 will host the promotion’s debut of Brett Rogers.
As we reported last week, Brett

Marco Ruas: Pedro Rizzo must have the right mindset against Fedor Emelianenko

As the June 21st fight between Fedor Emelianenko and  Pedro Rizzo, Rizzo’s coach Marcos Ruas has come out with some comments about his student today. Believing that Rizzo can beat The Last Emperor with the right mindset, he spoke the following to Tatame.com:
“Pedro has all the tools, it’s up to him, his mind. He told me he wants it: ‘I wanna prove to myself I’m a fighter and I have all conditions to pull out good fights’. He has all the chances to do so”.
While