Bellator 85 kicks off a new season with two title fights tonight
Bellator Fighting Championships have been in the news quite a bit as of late, although it has not been for the best of reasons due an ugly contract struggle with former Lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez. As the two sides press forth, Bellator may get some coverage that is positive tonight, as it makes it Spike TV debut after crossing over from MTV2. The season starts with a bang, as two championship belts will be defended at Bellator 85 in the season debut.
The first will feature just the man who took the belt from Alvarez in an all-out war back in late 2011, Michael Chandler. The titleholder will face off against top-level judoka and Lightweight Tournament winner Rick Hawn. The grappling prowess of these two fighters should provide a great battle from Irvine, California.
In the second championship bout, Pat Curran will face Pitbull Freire for the Featherweight strap. Curran finds himself on a four-fight win streak, and 8 out of 9 victories. His only loss came to Alvarez in April of 2011. Freire also lost to Alvarez via brutal KO last October, sending the former champ off well, until now at least.
Also, Babalu Sobral will be making his promotional debut tonight in the Light Heavyweight Tournament Quarterfinals against Mikhail Zayats. Seth Petruzelli will also be in that tournament, fighting Jacob Noe.
Here’s a video of Chandler focusing on his mindset and opponent Rick Hawn,courtesy of FightHub TV:
