...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Bellator MMA's first Friday night event on Spike TV is coming to Temecula, California's Pechanga Resort & Casino September 13, and they're bringing an entertaining card to kick things off.
In the night's main event, longtime veteran and most recently UFC light heavyweight Vladimir Matyushenko will make his debut in the Bellator, taking on their former Light Heavyweight Champion Christian M'Pumbu. In the rest of the night's main card action, the opening round of the season nine featherweight tournament will kick off.
"This is exactly what I wanted entering Bellator, a tough test right from the start," Matyushenko said in a press release for the event. "I still have a lot of fights left in my tank, and this is the start of a new chapter in my career."
In the marquee opening round matchup for the 145 lb. tournament, one-time tournament winner and title challenger Patricio "Pitbull" Freire will welcome another recent UFC castoff in Diego Nunes. This is his first fight back since a loss to Champ Pat Curran in a great fight in January, the first ever Bellator fight on Spike TV.
"In my last fight, I made Pat Curran back pedal for 25 minutes, and I know he has doubts if he won the fight," Pitbull said. "When it comes to this tournament, it won't be Diego or any other guy that will stand in my way for a shot at the belt. I couldn't think of a better place to start than with Diego. It's going to be a great fight."
Also in this fall's 145 lb. field is the most recent tournament winner and title challenger Shahbulat Shamhalaev. Returning to the tournament field after his own loss to Curran in April, Shamhalaev will take on Akop Stepanyan in the opening round. In other featherweight tournament action, Des Green takes on Fabricio Guerreiro, and Joe Taimanglo meets Andrew Fisher.
"We had an absolutely packed house in March when we brought Bellator MMA live on Spike to Pechanga, and with this card I expect nothing but fireworks," Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney said. "Matyushenko vs. M’Pumbu should be a wickedly exciting main event and will be a great compliment to the explosive start to our $100,000 Featherweight tournament. With names like Pitbull, Shamhalaev, Nunes, and Guerreiro, this field is stacked."
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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