CHICAGO, Ill. (August 30, 2010) —Bellator Fighting Championships today announced the signing of undefeated MMA prospect Chris “The Assassin” Lozano to its already impressive roster.

Sporting an impressive undefeated record of 5-0, Lozano has dominated all of his fights to date, beating all five opponents he has faced by TKO or KO, with four of the five stoppages coming in the very first round. In his most recent outing, Lozano took out well rounded Pride/UFC veteran Jason Dent via fourth round TKO in an extremely impressive showing.

Growing up in Cleveland, Lozano struggled to find positive sports programs before eventually turning to MMA for his competitive release. Currently training out Strong Style Gym in Ohio, Lozano began boxing and Tae Kwon Do when he was a child. In middle school, Lozano turned to wrestling where he quickly made the Ohio National team for his age group and weight class before ultimately setting his sites on mixed martial arts.

“Chris Lozano brings proven knockout power to the welterweight division.” said Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “He is a big welterweight that has tremendous potential to accomplish great things in Bellator at 170 lbs.”

Lozano is admittedly anxious to show what he is capable of on the biggest platform of his fast-rising career.

“Fighting for an organization like Bellator Fighting Championship is a dream come true,” said Lozano. “To finally get a chance to compete amongst the best in the world is something I have spent my entire life focusing on and dreaming of.”

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

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.

Strikeforce on Wednesday released its middleweight champion, Jake
Shields, which confirmed the fighter's long-expected exodus from the
promotion.

The man who's long coveted his services, UFC president Dana White, today
told MMAjunkie.com he sees no reason why he can't
ink Shields "quickly."

If a UFC deal is done, Shields' manager said the fighter wants to fight
"a couple" of fights at middleweight, then drop to welterweight. White
doesn't necessarily agree.

Strikeforce on Wednesday released its middleweight champion, Jake
Shields, which confirmed the fighter's long-expected exodus from the
promotion.

The man who's long coveted his services, UFC president Dana White, today
told MMAjunkie.com he sees no reason why he can't
ink Shields "quickly."

If a UFC deal is done, Shields' manager said the fighter wants to fight
"a couple" of fights at middleweight, then drop to welterweight. White
doesn't necessarily agree.

Strikeforce on Wednesday released its middleweight champion, Jake
Shields, which confirmed the fighter's long-expected exodus from the
promotion.

The man who's long coveted his services, UFC president Dana White, today
told MMAjunkie.com he sees no reason why he can't
ink Shields "quickly."

If a UFC deal is done, Shields' manager said the fighter wants to fight
"a couple" of fights at middleweight, then drop to welterweight. White
doesn't necessarily agree.

Strikeforce on Wednesday released its middleweight champion, Jake
Shields, which confirmed the fighter's long-expected exodus from the
promotion.

The man who's long coveted his services, UFC president Dana White, today
told MMAjunkie.com he sees no reason why he can't
ink Shields "quickly."

If a UFC deal is done, Shields' manager said the fighter wants to fight
"a couple" of fights at middleweight, then drop to welterweight. White
doesn't necessarily agree.

Strikeforce on Wednesday released its middleweight champion, Jake
Shields, which confirmed the fighter's long-expected exodus from the
promotion.

The man who's long coveted his services, UFC president Dana White, today
told MMAjunkie.com he sees no reason why he can't
ink Shields "quickly."

If a UFC deal is done, Shields' manager said the fighter wants to fight
"a couple" of fights at middleweight, then drop to welterweight. White
doesn't necessarily agree.

Strikeforce on Wednesday released its middleweight champion, Jake
Shields, which confirmed the fighter's long-expected exodus from the
promotion.

The man who's long coveted his services, UFC president Dana White, today
told MMAjunkie.com he sees no reason why he can't
ink Shields "quickly."

If a UFC deal is done, Shields' manager said the fighter wants to fight
"a couple" of fights at middleweight, then drop to welterweight. White
doesn't necessarily agree.

UFC middleweight fighter Chris Leben (20-6) said it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up after being offered the fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116, after an injury forced Wanderlei Silva from the bout with the Japanese fighter.

“It’s a great fight and an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” said Leben, who wasn’t exactly feeling that way when he initially got the call from the UFC on the Monday after his fight to replace the injured Wanderlei Silva against Akiyama.

“I woke up and I was all sore, and Joe (Silva) was already calling me,” said Leben. “He asked me to fight and I said no way. But the more I thought about it, I’m a fighter, that’s what I do. I’d be mad at myself if I passed this opportunity up. This is what I do. I’ll have plenty of opportunity to take a vacation after July 3rd.”

Leben and Akiyama meet in the co-main event of “UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin” in Las Vegas, Nev. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena this Saturday.

HT: UFC.com

UFC middleweight fighter Chris Leben (20-6) said it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up after being offered the fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116, after an injury forced Wanderlei Silva from the bout with the Japanese fighter.

“It’s a great fight and an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” said Leben, who wasn’t exactly feeling that way when he initially got the call from the UFC on the Monday after his fight to replace the injured Wanderlei Silva against Akiyama.

“I woke up and I was all sore, and Joe (Silva) was already calling me,” said Leben. “He asked me to fight and I said no way. But the more I thought about it, I’m a fighter, that’s what I do. I’d be mad at myself if I passed this opportunity up. This is what I do. I’ll have plenty of opportunity to take a vacation after July 3rd.”

Leben and Akiyama meet in the co-main event of “UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin” in Las Vegas, Nev. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena this Saturday.

HT: UFC.com

UFC light heavyweight fighter Tito Ortiz is looking at returning to the ring in October or November of this year, according to a recent interview with Sherdog.com. The popular and yet strangely unpopular fighter has been fighting series back injuries and is coming off another surgery to repair damage done to disks. While it will be a short time before he can train completely, it seems that Ortiz has everything planned for his return to training:

“I get a little tingling sensation down my arms and the back of my neck but I guess that’s normal because of all the nerves are reconnecting,” he said. “I feel really good, though. The soreness I have now is from lifting weights. I haven’t had this kind of soreness in a while. July will really be the test for me because I’ll be wrestling and stuff and starting to get into it. On July 1, I’ll start doing jiu-jitsu and start drilling. Nothing live — just drilling to get my body back into shape.”

Many MMA fans have questions about whether Ortiz will ever be able to compete at the highest level again, but there’s no doubt that he can still sell tickets. The UFC certainly could put on another Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell match which would no doubt produce good to great pay per view numbers but it seems premature to speculate. For now Ortiz continues to look to the future to return to the Octagon, healthy and ready to make a run at the light heavyweight title.