LAS VEGAS - Undefeated WEC featherweight prospect Chad Mendes has no problem going to his bread and butter.

Sure, the 25-year-old Team Alpha Male product is constantly adding
skills to his arsenal, but a lifetime of wrestling competition has given
him a go-to weapon that has proven capable of delivering victories in
all eight of his professional contests.

And so it was at Wednesday night's WEC 50 event, where Mendes used a
controlling grappling game to claim victory over Cub Swanson. But for
those critics who say Mendes needs to open up his attack, "Money" says
be patient. It will all come in time.

Cub Swanson is ready for a run of good luck.

The WEC featherweight twice has fallen short in No. 1 contender bouts and dealt with a number of injuries as he carved out a spot in the UFC's sister promotion.

But after recently returning to the winner's column, Swanson is gunning for a third contender opportunity when he meets Chad Mendes tonight on WEC 50's Versus-televised main card.

PRESS RELEASE / CHICAGO, Ill. (August 17, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships today announced that Bellator Season 2 featherweight semi-finalist Georgi Karakhanyan (13-2-1) will take on UFC veteran and submission specialist Alvin Robinson (10-5) at Bellator 28 in New Orleans on September 9th. Karakhanyan is coming off of a loss to current Season 2 Featherweight Tournament Champion Joe Warren at Bellator 18 last May. Prior to that defeat, Karakhanyan was on a nine fight win streak that dated back to May of 2008, including a first-round highlight reel KO of Bao Quach at Bellator 13.

California-native Robinson will make his Bellator debut at the Bellator 28 event. Robinson is a dangerous submission fighter holding a blackbelt in BJJJ under the legendary Royce Gracie. Robinson brings an impressive 10-5 professional record to his Bellator debut, with nine of those wins coming via submission. In his last outing, Robinson secured a second round rear-naked choke victory over Brandon Girtz. The 28 year-old-fighter currently fights out of Denver, Colorado for the Gracie Grudge Fight Team.

“Stylistically, Georgi and Alvin match-up really well. Both have world-class submission skills so there’s great potential for an explosive, entertaining fight for the fans,” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “This fight is a great addition to what is already a great night of fights to the Mahalia Jackson Theater in New Orleans on September 9th.”

Born in Moscow, Russia, to Armenian parents, Karakhanyan was introduced to martial arts at the age of six by his father, a karate black-belt. Soon, though, he fell in love with soccer and went on to play at the amateur and professional levels in Russia, Spain and the U.S. While playing for the San Diego Sockers of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), Karakhanyan also began studying jiujitsu as part of his conditioning regimen. When the team folded, he decided to take up fighting full-time.

When asked about his loss to Warren, Karakhanyan is understandably animated.

“I don’t like to lose, period,” said Karakhanyan. “Coming off of a loss, I’m hungry; I’m training harder than I ever have before. Alvin is a great fighter, he’s a black belt, but I won’t be afraid to take him down.”

Robinson, who actually trains with Warren, says that he is preparing for it all.

“I’m excited to be back in the big leagues and I’m not taking this for granted. Georgi is a very well-rounded fighter so I’m getting ready for anything. If it goes to the ground I’m going to be ready with my jiujitsu, or if he wants to stand and bang, I’m ready,” said Robinson.

The weigh-ins for the next World Extreme Cagefighting event, “WEC 50: Cruz vs. Benavidez” went down tonight at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, which will also host Wednesday’s festivities.

All twenty competitors made weight for their perspective bouts with headliners WEC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and opponent Joseph Benavidez weighing in at 134 pounds each.

Tomorrow night’s main card will be broadcast live on the Versus network.

Here are the full weigh-in results for WEC 50

Main Card

Bantamweight: Dominick Cruz (134) vs. Joseph Benavidez (134) Title bout
Lightweight: Shane Roller (156) vs. Anthony Pettis (155)
Featherweight: Cub Swanson (146) vs. Chad Mendes (145)
Bantamweight: Scott Jorgensen (135) vs. Brad Pickett (136)
Lightweight: Bart Palaszewski (156) vs. Zack Micklewright (156)

Preliminary Card

Lightweight: Anthony Njokuani (154) vs. Maciej Jewtuszko (155)
Featherweight: Javier Vazquez (145) vs. Mackens Semerzier (146)
Lightweight: Ricardo Lamas (155) vs. Dave Jansen (156)
Featherweight: Fredson Paixao (145) vs. Bryan Caraway (145)
Lightweight: Danny Castillo (156) vs. Dustin Poirier (156)

PRESS RELEASE / CHICAGO, Ill. (August 11, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships officially announced today the signing of New York native Kenny “The Tooth Fairy” Foster to its fast growing list of up-and-coming fighters. Foster joins the promotion with an impressive 7-2 professional record, including a six fight win streak which he compiled from July 2009 to March 2010.

After a three-year 149 lbs. wrestling career at Carson Newman College, Foster found that he still had a hunger for competition. He filled that void by competing in tough man competitions but was eventually drawn to MMA when UFC fighter Clay Guida started training at his wrestling gym. After a successful amateur career in which he held a regional championship lightweight belt, Foster decided to begin training fulltime. The 25-year old relocated from Georgia back to his New York roots to train with Team Bomb Squad.

“Kenny Foster has a great competitive spirit mixed with powerful wrestling skills and ever evolving striking skills which makes it very hard to count him out of match-ups at featherweight,” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney.

Although Foster has no problem drawing from his prior wrestling experience to win fights, he admittedly does not like to be categorized as a wrestler.

“I hate to even put it out there, but I’m a striker. Categorizing me as a ground fighter isn’t a fair assumption at all. All of my submission victories for my past 5 or 6 fights have come after I dropped my opponent with strikes,” said Foster. “Once I drop someone my wrestling instincts kick in and I just look for the finish.”

Whichever discipline Foster decides to use, it’s clear that he is going to “bring it” in his upcoming fights with Bellator.

“I feel like all the years I’ve been doing this have been building up to this point,” said Foster. “I feel like when I signed the contract today, it was the biggest blessing of my life. Today is the first time I truly felt like a professional. Signing a contract with an amazing organization like Bellator and now my trainer is talking about organizing my fight camp; I feel like I’m really getting the treatment now.”

Although Foster competed at lightweight the entirety of his amateur career and for his first professional fight, he plans to fight in the featherweight division for Bellator.

A bantamweight bout between Demetrious Johnson and Clint Godfrey - two fighters looking for their first WEC win - is set and now part of the WEC 50 preliminary card.

WEC officials today announced the fight.

WEC 50, which features a featherweight headliner between champ Jose Aldo meets Manny Gamburyan, takes place Sept. 30 at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colo.

Press Release

Bellator Fighting Championships World Featherweight Championship belt will be on the line Sept. 2nd when reigning champ Joe “The Hammer” Soto defends his title against Season 2 Featherweight Tournament Champion Joe Warren at Bellator 27 in San Antonio.

The five-round Main Event Championship fight — which will be televised LIVE nationwide from San Antonio’s Majestic Theatre on FOX Sports Net — features two fighters at the top of their games each looking to make another huge statement that they are among the world’s top 145-pound fighters.

Soto, a native of California’s Central Valley, was a virtual unknown in the MMA world before knocking off Ben Greer, Wilson Reis and Yahir Reyes to take home the first-ever Bellator Featherweight Championship belt last June. He recently improved his record to a perfect 9-0 with an impressive May 20th ground-and-pound stoppage of durable UFC veteran Diego Saraiva at Bellator 19 in Dallas. The Hammer is known for his well-rounded arsenal and finishing ability with four of his wins coming via submission and four being stopped via KO or TKO.

Warren, the former NCAA all-American wrestler at the University of Michigan and two-time Greco-Roman wrestling world champion, burst onto the MMA scene in 2009 with stunning wins over former WEC standout Chase Beebe and Japanese sensation Kid Yamamoto. In 2010, he took home Bellator’s Season 2 Featherweight Tournament Championship with inspiring consecutive victories over Eric Marriott, Georgi Karakhanyan and the previously undefeated Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, improving his overall pro MMA record to 5-1 and solidifying his place among the best featherweights in the sport.

“Of our four upcoming world title fights, the Soto-Warren fight is hugely intriguing,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Joe Soto is extremely talented and has made a collection of top ten rankings. Warren’s a world-class wrestler who beat one of the greatest featherweights in the world in just his second fight. He has tremendous heart and he doesn’t understand what the word ‘lose’ means. Joe Soto also comes from a national-caliber wrestling background and anyone who saw his fight with Diego Saraiva in May knows that his game is polished and world-class throughout every facet of MMA. This should be a truly spectacular fight.”

Soto said that he “can’t wait for the fight” and thinks he matches up well against Warren.

“I’m just really excited to get in there and compete against him,” Soto said. “He’s a wrestler just like I am, but I think I can out-wrestle him. If he takes me down, I’m better on my back than he is on top. If we stay standing, I think I can out-box him. No matter where the fight goes, I think I’m a much better all-around fighter than he is.”

Warren, for his part, respectfully disagreed, saying that “after September 2nd, Joe Warren will have his first belt and that’s going to be big trouble for everyone in this weight division.

“Joe Soto is a tough fighter, but he’s going to see the best Joe Warren that’s ever been in a cage,” Warren said. “We’re both great wrestlers so I’m guessing we’re going to get in there and beat the crap out of each other, but in the end I’m going to be taking that belt home with me.”

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator.

Tickets for Bellator 27 are available at www.Ticketmaster.com.

About Bellator Fighting Championships

Bellator Fighting Championships is a Mixed Martial Arts promotional company headquartered in Chicago. Bellator’s founder/CEO, Bjorn Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and entertainment professional with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes. Bellator Fighting Championships’ executive team is comprised of top industry professionals in the areas of live event production, television production, fighter relations, venue procurement, sponsorship creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising, publicity and commission relations.

The main card for September's WEC 51 event now appears complete.

World Extreme Cagefighting officials recently moved a featherweight bout between "The Korean Zombie," Chan Sung Jung, and opponent George Roop from the preliminary card to the night's Versus-televised main card.

The five-fight televised lineup is now set for the card, which takes place Sept. 30 at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colo.

Bellator Fighting Championships featherweight champion Joe Soto and season-two tournament winner Joe Warren will clash on Sept. 2.

As was first reported by MMAjunkie.com, Soto and Warren meet in the main event of Bellator 27.

Bellator officials today announced the matchup for the card, which takes place at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas.

CHICAGO, Ill. (July 30, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships World Featherweight Championship belt will be on the line Sept. 2nd when reigning champ Joe “The Hammer” Soto defends his title against Season 2 Featherweight Tournament Champion Joe Warren at Bellator 27 in San Antonio.

The five-round Main Event Championship fight — which will be televised LIVE nationwide from San Antonio’s Majestic Theatre on FOX Sports Net — features two fighters at the top of their games each looking to make another huge statement that they are among the world’s top 145-pound fighters.

Soto, a native of California’s Central Valley, was a virtual unknown in the MMA world before knocking off Ben Greer, Wilson Reis and Yahir Reyes to take home the first-ever Bellator Featherweight Championship belt last June. He recently improved his record to a perfect 9-0 with an impressive May 20th ground-and-pound stoppage of durable UFC veteran Diego Saraiva at Bellator 19 in Dallas. The Hammer is known for his well-rounded arsenal and finishing ability with four of his wins coming via submission and four being stopped via KO or TKO.

Warren, the former NCAA all-American wrestler at the University of Michigan and two-time Greco-Roman wrestling world champion, burst onto the MMA scene in 2009 with stunning wins over former WEC standout Chase Beebe and Japanese sensation Kid Yamamoto. In 2010, he took home Bellator’s Season 2 Featherweight Tournament Championship with inspiring consecutive victories over Eric Marriott, Georgi Karakhanyan and the previously undefeated Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, improving his overall pro MMA record to 5-1 and solidifying his place among the best featherweights in the sport.

“Of our four upcoming world title fights, the Soto-Warren fight is hugely intriguing,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Joe Soto is extremely talented and has made a collection of top ten rankings. Warren’s a world-class wrestler who beat one of the greatest featherweights in the world in just his second fight. He has tremendous heart and he doesn’t understand what the word ‘lose’ means. Joe Soto also comes from a national-caliber wrestling background and anyone who saw his fight with Diego Saraiva in May knows that his game is polished and world-class throughout every facet of MMA. This should be a truly spectacular fight.”

Soto said that he “can’t wait for the fight” and thinks he matches up well against Warren.

“I’m just really excited to get in there and compete against him,” Soto said. “He’s a wrestler just like I am, but I think I can out-wrestle him. If he takes me down, I’m better on my back than he is on top. If we stay standing, I think I can out-box him. No matter where the fight goes, I think I’m a much better all-around fighter than he is.”

Warren, for his part, respectfully disagreed, saying that “after September 2nd, Joe Warren will have his first belt and that’s going to be big trouble for everyone in this weight division.

“Joe Soto is a tough fighter, but he’s going to see the best Joe Warren that’s ever been in a cage,” Warren said. “We’re both great wrestlers so I’m guessing we’re going to get in there and beat the crap out of each other, but in the end I’m going to be taking that belt home with me.”

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator.

Tickets for Bellator 27 are available at www.Ticketmaster.com.