August 21 2010 was the date, and Xert gym was the location of this contest. This meet showcased both world class and up and coming lifters. In the Bench Only division Hunter Hernandez (18-19) came in at 123 and made a top 10 242 bench (Multi) in our lightest ranking of 132.

LOS ANGELES (June 16, 2010) – Former STRIKEFORCE light heavyweight champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral (36-8) may have earned a shot at current STRIKEFORCE 205-pound titleholder Muhammad “King Mo’’ Lawal after capturing a close, unanimous three-round decision over “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (17-6) on a special Wednesday night presentation of STRIKEFORCE Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) on SHOWTIME®.

But Babalu, who narrowly outpointed Lawler in a main event fought at a catch weight of 195 pounds before 5,259 fans who produced a gate of $418,061 at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE, may need a little time to decide if he’ll take the fight with his good friend.

“This is something I will have to think about,’’ said Babalu, who triumphed by the scores of 29-28 three times. “Yes, of course, I want to be a champion again but I’m old school and he is my friend and friends last longer than title belts. But we’ll see.’’

In other televised results, Brazil’s Evangelista Cyborg (18-13) registered an impressive 2:38, first-round knockout over DREAM welterweight champion Marius “The Whitemare” Zaromskis (13-5); American military hero Tim Kennedy (12-2) of Austin, Texas, made quick work of South African Trevor Prangley, winning by 3:35 first-round submission (rear-naked choke); and former world champion KJ Noons (9-2) of San Diego, Calif., outlasted Conor “Hurricane’’ Heun (8-4) of Hollywood, Calif., by way of Boulder, Colo., via split decision in a non-stop-action lightweight thriller that opened the telecast.

The first-ever STRIKEFORCE event scheduled for mid-week took place in the midst of the E3 Expo, the premier trade show for computer and video games. During E3 Expo 2010 at the L.A. Convention Center, EA SPORTS™ will exhibit its highly anticipated title, EA SPORTS MMA, in which STRIKEFORCE is featured as a premier league.

Besides deciding if he wants to fight King Mo, Babalu will need to take off some time for the severe cuts around his left eye to heal. Lawler, meantime, who exited the ring seemingly unmarked, may want to re-think his decision to feign an injury in the second round that he hoped would lure Babalu, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist known for his submissions, into a standup shootout.

“I wasn’t hurt, I just wanted to make him think I was,’’ said Lawler, who suffered damage to his body from a multitude of front kicks. “It was a ploy, a decoy, for him to fight me so I could knock him out.

“I’m disappointed with the result, but I have no complaints. The two takedowns in the first round may have been the difference. I know that I could have done much more. I should have done more.’’

Cyborg, the husband of women’s superstar Cris Cyborg and a member of the famed Chute Box Academy, was ecstatic after handling Zaromskis his second consecutive defeat.

“I am very happy with my performance and this fight,’’ the male Cyborg said. “I’ve had so many first-round knockouts. I can’t say if this was the best, but it was definitely one of the best.

“I want to fight (STRIKEFORCE world welterweight champion) Nick Diaz. He’s the fighter I want more than anybody right now.’’

The super-aggressive Kennedy, a United States Army Special Forces sniper with the 19th Special Forces outfit based in San Antonio who has earned the Army’s Bronze Medal Star medal for valor under fire, made it four victories in a row and 12 of his last 13.

“I don’t go the distance. In fact, I’m totally against going the distance,’’ Kennedy said. “I’m happy with the end result. He hit me with a good uppercut; that stuff’s not supposed to happen. I have some of the greatest hands in the sport. I just want to start fighting the kinds of opponents I can knock out and start a highlight reel on. I’m tired of fighting wrestlers.’’

Noons, a prolific striker and the last fighter to defeat Nick Diaz, praised Heun at bout’s conclusion.

“He’s a very game guy who brought it the whole fight,’’ said Noons, won by the scores of 29-28 twice and 27-30. “I definitely feel I won the fight and I really wanted to please the fans, but I had to work for it. I haven’t used my legs in a while so if felt good to get in some leg kicks.’’

A bloodied Heun felt he’d done enough to get the nod. “I wanted to fight one of the top guys to prove to everybody that I could compete with the top ones, and I think I did that tonight,” he said. “But I’m very disappointed with the decision. Only one judge scored the fight.

“I feel I did more than enough to win although the cuts were definitely a factor. By the third round, I was aiming my punches at the guy in the middle.’’

Wednesday’s bouts will re-air as follows:

DAY CHANNEL
Tuesday, June 22, at 10 p.m. ET/PT SHOWTIME 2

Mauro Ranallo called the action on SHOWTIME with MMA expert Stephen Quadros and MMA legend Pat Miletich serving as expert analysts.

Wednesdays non-televised results: Jeremy Umphries (5-1), Los Angeles; submitted (rear-naked choke) ESPN radio host RJ Clifford (3-2), Los Angeles, at 2:27 of the second round; and Hugo Sandoval (2-2), Riverside, Calif., TKO 2 (strikes, 0:42) over Marcus Koval (2-1), Los Angeles.

Press Release

BABALU SOBRAL TAKES CLOSE, UNANIMOUS DECISION OVER “RUTHLESS’’ ROBBIE LAWLER

TIM KENNEDY WINS EASILY, EVANGELISTA CYBORG
TRIUMPHS IMPRESSIVELY, KJ NOONS OUTLASTS CONOR HEUN
ON UNIQUE WEDNESDAY NIGHT STRIKEFORCE FIGHT CARD

LOS ANGELES (June 16, 2010) – Former STRIKEFORCE light heavyweight champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral (36-8) may have earned a shot at current STRIKEFORCE 205-pound titleholder Muhammad “King Mo’’ Lawal after capturing a close, unanimous three-round decision over “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (17-6) on a special Wednesday night presentation of STRIKEFORCE Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) on SHOWTIME®.

But Babalu, who narrowly outpointed Lawler in a main event fought at a catch weight of 195 pounds before 5,259 fans who produced a gate of $418,061 at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE, may need a little time to decide if he’ll take the fight with his good friend.

“This is something I will have to think about,’’ said Babalu, who triumphed by the scores of 29-28 three times. “Yes, of course, I want to be a champion again but I’m old school and he is my friend and friends last longer than title belts. But we’ll see.’’

In other televised results, Brazil’s Evangelista Cyborg (18-13) registered an impressive 2:38, first-round knockout over DREAM welterweight champion Marius “The Whitemare” Zaromskis (13-5); American military hero Tim Kennedy (12-2) of Austin, Texas, made quick work of South African Trevor Prangley, winning by 3:35 first-round submission (rear-naked choke); and former world champion KJ Noons (9-2) of San Diego, Calif., outlasted Conor “Hurricane’’ Heun (8-4) of Hollywood, Calif., by way of Boulder, Colo., via split decision in a non-stop-action lightweight thriller that opened the telecast.

The first-ever STRIKEFORCE event scheduled for mid-week took place in the midst of the E3 Expo, the premier trade show for computer and video games. During E3 Expo 2010 at the L.A. Convention Center, EA SPORTS™ will exhibit its highly anticipated title, EA SPORTS MMA, in which STRIKEFORCE is featured as a premier league.

Besides deciding if he wants to fight King Mo, Babalu will need to take off some time for the severe cuts around his left eye to heal. Lawler, meantime, who exited the ring seemingly unmarked, may want to re-think his decision to feign an injury in the second round that he hoped would lure Babalu, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist known for his submissions, into a standup shootout.

“I wasn’t hurt, I just wanted to make him think I was,’’ said Lawler, who suffered damage to his body from a multitude of front kicks. “It was a ploy, a decoy, for him to fight me so I could knock him out.

“I’m disappointed with the result, but I have no complaints. The two takedowns in the first round may have been the difference. I know that I could have done much more. I should have done more.’’

Cyborg, the husband of women’s superstar Cris Cyborg and a member of the famed Chute Box Academy, was ecstatic after handling Zaromskis his second consecutive defeat.

“I am very happy with my performance and this fight,’’ the male Cyborg said. “I’ve had so many first-round knockouts. I can’t say if this was the best, but it was definitely one of the best.

“I want to fight (STRIKEFORCE world welterweight champion) Nick Diaz. He’s the fighter I want more than anybody right now.’’

The super-aggressive Kennedy, a United States Army Special Forces sniper with the 19th Special Forces outfit based in San Antonio who has earned the Army’s Bronze Medal Star medal for valor under fire, made it four victories in a row and 12 of his last 13.

“I don’t go the distance. In fact, I’m totally against going the distance,’’ Kennedy said. “I’m happy with the end result. He hit me with a good uppercut; that stuff’s not supposed to happen. I have some of the greatest hands in the sport. I just want to start fighting the kinds of opponents I can knock out and start a highlight reel on. I’m tired of fighting wrestlers.’’

Noons, a prolific striker and the last fighter to defeat Nick Diaz, praised Heun at bout’s conclusion.

“He’s a very game guy who brought it the whole fight,’’ said Noons, won by the scores of 29-28 twice and 27-30. “I definitely feel I won the fight and I really wanted to please the fans, but I had to work for it. I haven’t used my legs in a while so if felt good to get in some leg kicks.’’

A bloodied Heun felt he’d done enough to get the nod. “I wanted to fight one of the top guys to prove to everybody that I could compete with the top ones, and I think I did that tonight,” he said. “But I’m very disappointed with the decision. Only one judge scored the fight.

“I feel I did more than enough to win although the cuts were definitely a factor. By the third round, I was aiming my punches at the guy in the middle.’’

——–

This photo and others from Wednesday nights event can be found at Strikeforce.com.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Press Release:

LOS ANGELES (June 3, 2010) – An excellent lightweight (155 pounds) scrap between former world champion KJ Noons (8-2) of San Diego, Calif., and Conor “The Hurricane’’ Heun (8-3) of Hollywood, Calif., by way of Boulder, Colo., will round out the televised portion of fights on SHOWTIME® when STRIKEFORCE steamrolls into Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on Wednesday, June 16.

The first-ever STRIKEFORCE event scheduled for mid-week will take place in the midst of the E3 Expo, the premier trade show for computer and video games. During E3 Expo 2010 at the L.A. Convention Center, EA SPORTS™ will exhibit its highly anticipated title, EA SPORTS MMA, in which STRIKEFORCE is featured as a premier league.

Tickets are on sale at STAPLES Center box office, all Ticketmaster locations (800) 745-3000, Ticketmaster online and STRIKEFORCE’S official website. Tickets will also be sold at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE box office on days when events take place there.

In other televised matches, hard-hitting “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (17-5) will collide with ex- STRIKEFORCE light heavyweight (205 pounds) champion Renato “Babalu’’ Sobral, at a catch weight of 195 pounds, DREAM belt-holder Marius “The Whitemare” Zaromskis (13-4) will face Evangelista Cyborg (17-13) in a welterweight (170 pounds) contest and American military hero, Tim Kennedy, will take on the dangerous Trevor Prangley in a middleweight match.

The SHOWTIME broadcast will begin at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast). Doors at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE will open for the event at 6:15 p.m. PT. The first non-televised preliminary bout will begin at 7 p.m. and the first main card fight will begin at 8 p.m.

Noons will be making his STRIKEFORCE debut and fifth start on SHOWTIME. He has won four consecutive fights and is 7-1 in his last eight outings. His last defeat came to Charles “Krazy Horse’’ Bennett on Feb. 10, 2007, in the opening bout on the historic first MMA fight card ever broadcast on network premium television (SHOWTIME).

A confident, prolific striker, Noons is the last fighter to defeat current STRIKEFORCE welterweight champion Nick Diaz. In a thrilling, bloody fight on Nov. 10, 2007, Noons won by first-round TKO when a cageside doctor stopped matters after the round due to excessive cuts around Diaz’ eyes.

The 5-foot-11, 27-year-old Noons won his three ensuing fights after the setback to Krazy Horse – all by knockout — over Edson Berto (KO 3, knee) on July 27, 2007, Diaz and Yves Edwards (TKO 1, punches and elbows) on June 14, 2008.

Following a near-two-year respite to continue a boxing career, Noons returned to MMA and won a decision over Andre Amado at DREAM 13 last March 22.

“They’re a lot of good fights out there for me in STRIKEFORCE,’’ said Noons, a former EliteXC 155-pound titleholder. “I’m looking forward to getting a good win and moving on to bigger and better things. Fighting in Los Angeles is very cool. I’m sure I’ll have a lot of friends and fans there rooting for me.’’

The boyishly handsome Noons, who was born and raised in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, has been fighting for more than 20 years.

“My father was a professional kick boxer so I’ve been in martial arts since I was five or six years old and boxing and Muay Thai since I was eight or nine,’’ he said. “I’ve been doing this forever and finally it’s my time to shine again and I’m ready.”

Heun, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu purple belt who prefers to kickbox in the cage, is a superb athlete and former IFL and EliteXC fighter who turned pro in 2006.

The 5-foot-10, 30-year-old Eddie Bravo-trained fighter is competing for the first time since losing his STRIKEFORCE debut on a decision in one of the most entertaining brawls of the year to Jorge Gurgel during a STRIKEFORCE: Challengers event on June 19, 2009.

The setback in a fiercely contested, electrifying slugfest between two ground fighters that gave the fans a kickboxing exhibition stole the show. At the conclusion of a grueling, non-stop-action encounter fought at a catch weight of 160 pounds, they got a standing ovation.

Bloodied and battered, the athletes “put on a fight for the ages at 160 pounds,” SHOWTIME announcer Mauro Ranallo commented during the telecast.
“I may go home a couple of bucks shorter and with some scrapes but that was the most fun I’ve ever had. I live for those 15 minutes,’’ said Heun, who was the stronger fighter at the finish despite coming up short by the scores of 29-28 and 30-27 twice.
The loss ended a three-fight winning streak for the aggressive-minded Heun, who entered the bout, his first in nine months, having won seven of eight.
Heun is anxious to put together another winning streak, beginning on June 16. “I’ve been eyeing a fight like this, and have been calling out Noons for a long time,’’ Heun said. I’m beyond thrilled this fight was made. If Noons thinks this is going to be easy, he is in for the surprise of his life. This is my time’’

Before turning to MMA, Heun was a former Division III National Qualifier wrestler at the University of Ithaca where he majored in English. After graduating, Heun did not enter MMA immediately. Instead, he went into the corporate world and even owned his own clothing apparel line. He would later leave Colorado and move to California where he began to work as a dental assistant. A little more than a year ago, Heun beat up a bully MTV’s “Bully Beatdown.”

Doors at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE will open at 6:15 p.m. PT. The first preliminary bout will begin at 7 p.m.

Press Release

LOS ANGELES (June 3, 2010) – An excellent lightweight (155 pounds) scrap between former world champion KJ Noons (8-2) of San Diego, Calif., and Conor “The Hurricane’’ Heun (8-3) of Hollywood, Calif., by way of Boulder, Colo., will round out the televised portion of fights on SHOWTIME® when STRIKEFORCE steamrolls into Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on Wednesday, June 16.

The first-ever STRIKEFORCE event scheduled for mid-week will take place in the midst of the E3 Expo, the premier trade show for computer and video games. During E3 Expo 2010 at the L.A. Convention Center, EA SPORTS™ will exhibit its highly anticipated title, EA SPORTS MMA, in which STRIKEFORCE is featured as a premier league.

Tickets are on sale at STAPLES Center box office, all Ticketmaster locations (800) 745-3000, Ticketmaster online and STRIKEFORCE’S official website. Tickets will also be sold at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE box office on days when events take place there.

In other televised matches, hard-hitting “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (17-5) will collide with ex- STRIKEFORCE light heavyweight (205 pounds) champion Renato “Babalu’’ Sobral, at a catch weight of 195 pounds, DREAM belt-holder Marius “The Whitemare” Zaromskis (13-4) will face Evangelista Cyborg (17-13) in a welterweight (170 pounds) contest and American military hero, Tim Kennedy, will take on the dangerous Trevor Prangley in a middleweight match.

The SHOWTIME broadcast will begin at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast). Doors at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE will open for the event at 6:15 p.m. PT. The first non-televised preliminary bout will begin at 7 p.m. and the first main card fight will begin at 8 p.m.

Noons will be making his STRIKEFORCE debut and fifth start on SHOWTIME. He has won four consecutive fights and is 7-1 in his last eight outings. His last defeat came to Charles “Krazy Horse’’ Bennett on Feb. 10, 2007, in the opening bout on the historic first MMA fight card ever broadcast on network premium television (SHOWTIME).

A confident, prolific striker, Noons is the last fighter to defeat current STRIKEFORCE welterweight champion Nick Diaz. In a thrilling, bloody fight on Nov. 10, 2007, Noons won by first-round TKO when a cageside doctor stopped matters after the round due to excessive cuts around Diaz’ eyes.

The 5-foot-11, 27-year-old Noons won his three ensuing fights after the setback to Krazy Horse – all by knockout — over Edson Berto (KO 3, knee) on July 27, 2007, Diaz and Yves Edwards (TKO 1, punches and elbows) on June 14, 2008.

Following a near-two-year respite to continue a boxing career, Noons returned to MMA and won a decision over Andre Amado at DREAM 13 last March 22.

“They’re a lot of good fights out there for me in STRIKEFORCE,’’ said Noons, a former EliteXC 155-pound titleholder. “I’m looking forward to getting a good win and moving on to bigger and better things. Fighting in Los Angeles is very cool. I’m sure I’ll have a lot of friends and fans there rooting for me.’’

The boyishly handsome Noons, who was born and raised in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, has been fighting for more than 20 years.

“My father was a professional kick boxer so I’ve been in martial arts since I was five or six years old and boxing and Muay Thai since I was eight or nine,’’ he said. “I’ve been doing this forever and finally it’s my time to shine again and I’m ready.”

Heun, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu purple belt who prefers to kickbox in the cage, is a superb athlete and former IFL and EliteXC fighter who turned pro in 2006.

The 5-foot-10, 30-year-old Eddie Bravo-trained fighter is competing for the first time since losing his STRIKEFORCE debut on a decision in one of the most entertaining brawls of the year to Jorge Gurgel during a STRIKEFORCE: Challengers event on June 19, 2009.

The setback in a fiercely contested, electrifying slugfest between two ground fighters that gave the fans a kickboxing exhibition stole the show. At the conclusion of a grueling, non-stop-action encounter fought at a catch weight of 160 pounds, they got a standing ovation.

Bloodied and battered, the athletes “put on a fight for the ages at 160 pounds,” SHOWTIME announcer Mauro Ranallo commented during the telecast.

“I may go home a couple of bucks shorter and with some scrapes but that was the most fun I’ve ever had. I live for those 15 minutes,’’ said Heun, who was the stronger fighter at the finish despite coming up short by the scores of 29-28 and 30-27 twice.

The loss ended a three-fight winning streak for the aggressive-minded Heun, who entered the bout, his first in nine months, having won seven of eight.

Heun is anxious to put together another winning streak, beginning on June 16. “I’ve been eyeing a fight like this, and have been calling out Noons for a long time,’’ Heun said. I’m beyond thrilled this fight was made. If Noons thinks this is going to be easy, he is in for the surprise of his life. This is my time’’

Before turning to MMA, Heun was a former Division III National Qualifier wrestler at the University of Ithaca where he majored in English. After graduating, Heun did not enter MMA immediately. Instead, he went into the corporate world and even owned his own clothing apparel line. He would later leave Colorado and move to California where he began to work as a dental assistant. A little more than a year ago, Heun beat up a bully MTV’s “Bully Beatdown.”

Doors at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE will open at 6:15 p.m. PT. The first preliminary bout will begin at 7 p.m.

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC - To say that 2010 has been a tumultuous year for UFC veteran David Loiseau would be an understatement of epic proportions.
First up was January's devastating earthquake in Haiti, a catastrophe that hit home for Loiseau, who is of Haitian descent and who had to deal with tense hours wondering whether his grandparents, an uncle, and several friends and family were safe.

CHICAGO, Ill. (June 1, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that it will bring the much-anticipated finale of its highly successful second season to the Fourth Street Live entertainment district in downtown Louisville, Ky., on June 24th.

The event—which will be broadcast LIVE on FOX Sports Net and during weekend highlight shows on NBC, Telemundo and mun2—marks the first time ever that a major national mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion has staged an event in the Bluegrass State.

It will also mark the first time that a live sporting event will be held at Fourth Street Live, a state-of-the-art, open-air, mixed-use entertainment venue owned and managed by The Cordish Company.

Tickets are on sale now at Ticketsweb.com.

“If you’ve ever been to Fourth Street Live, I think you can envision what a spectacular and exciting event this is going to be,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “We are extremely proud to be partnering with The Cordish Company to bring the Bellator brand of MMA to Louisville and the hundreds of thousands of MMA fans in the Greater Louisville area.”

The evening will feature two championship fights in Bellator’s ongoing Season 2 Middleweight and Featherweight Tournaments.

In the first fight, world champion Greco-Roman wrestler and former NCAA all-American Joe Warren (4-1) will face undefeated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black-belt Patricio Pitbull (14-0) in the Featherweight Tournament Finals. The winner will earn the title of No. 1 Contender to reigning Bellator Featherweight Champion Joe Soto (9-0) and the chance to face Soto in a title fight later this year.

Then, in the Middleweight Tournament Finals, 13-1 WEC veteran Bryan “The Beast” Baker looks to continue his seven-fight winning streak when he squares off with Russian striker Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko (29-4). The winner will earn the title of No. 1 Contender to reigning Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard (25-2-1) and the chance to face Lombard in a title fight later this year.

In the spirit of Rocky Balboa, the Louisville card will also include six “Local Feature Fights” showcasing top up-and-coming fighters from Louisville, Cincinnati and Southern Indiana with selected winners qualifying to compete at future Bellator events. Competitors will be announced over the coming weeks.

This is the final event in Bellator’s 12-week-long second season. Season 3 kicks off on Aug. 12 in Hollywood, Fla.

Bellator has also held highly successful Season 2 events in Miami, Chicago, Kansas City, Boston, Dallas and San Antonio this year.

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

With their sites already firmly locked onto international markets such as Europe, Canada, and Australia, the UFC currently appears poised to take China by storm.

On the heels of announcing a recently assembled office in Canada, UFC President Dana White recently spoke optimistically on the prospect of the company taking its act to Asia in the very near future.

“Right now, what we’ve used to go into Europe and even Australia is our U.K. office,” said White during a recent report on MMAJunkie.com. “But we’re looking right now – and here I go jumping ahead of myself and saying stuff before we do it – but we’re going to open an office in China.”

White went on to speculate that the UFC could end up producing a total of 100 shows a year if everything continues going according to plan.

“This is is a work in progress,” White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “We bought this company, and we were doing five fights a year. If you would have told me six or seven years ago that we’d be doing 34 fights a year, I would have said, ‘That’s impossible. It’ll never happen. That’s crazy.’ We’re probably going to end up doing 100 fights a year.

“We could have a show [in the U.S.] on Saturday night and five more going on in five other countries. That’s what’s going to eventually happen. It’s figuring this thing out, putting the pieces together, and like I said, it’s a work in progress. But I’m telling you guys, I said it years ago, and I’ve been saying it – how big this thing is going to be. I think people are now really starting to realize how big this thing is really going to be.”

"My dear friends,

I know some of you are worried that due to the Volcano here in Iceland you might be at risk getting stuck here after the Europeans, and/or have major problems with transportation. I can well understand your worries, but I would like to reflect more light on the situation. As a staff member of Air Iceland here in Akureyri, I have been in the middle of all this, and can give you a better image of how this works.

CHICAGO, Ill. (April 30, 2010) — Bellator Fighting Championships, the fist-of-its-kind tournament-style mixed martial arts promotion, will make its second 2010 stop in the Lone Star State next month when it comes to the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio.

The event—which will be broadcast LIVE and in prime time across the country on FOX Sports Net and during special weekend highlight shows on NBC, Telemundo and mun2—takes place on Thursday, May 27th at the historic theatre, which is located at 224 E. Houston Street in the heart of downtown San Antonio.

Tickets are on sale now at all Ticketmaster outlets and at www.ticketmaster.com.

The fight card for the event includes two semifinal round matchups in Bellator’s ongoing middleweight tournament: Siberian striker Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko (28-4) versus former all-American college wrestler and Bellator Season 1 middleweight tournament runner-up Jared Hess (11-1-1) along with former competitive power-lifter Eric Schambari (12-1) versus Southern California powerhouse Bryan “The Beast” Baker (12-1) in a rematch of their December 2007 fight in the WEC (which Baker won by split decision).

In addition, the evening will feature a special “Heavyweight Feature Fight” between 11-3 former UFC star Eddie Sanchez and EliteXC veteran Ralph Kelly as well as four “Local Feature Fights” between some of the top rising MMA stars from Texas.

“Bellator is thrilled at the opportunity to bring our brand mixed martial arts events and our television partners at Fox Sports Net, NBC, Telemundo and Mun2 to the thousands of passionate MMA fans in the San Antonio area,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Our two Main Event fights feature four of the most exciting middleweights out there right now including a man, Alexander Shlemenko, who I believe is one of the top fighters to come out of Russia in many years. It should be a great night of fights.”

Bellator, which became the first MMA promotion in history to be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks during its highly successful first season, announced late last year that it had formed a groundbreaking new TV distribution alliance for its second season that reaches virtually every home in the U.S. Bellator Season 2 began on Thursday, April 8th at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla. Bellator Season 3 begins August 12th. Both seasons run for 12 consecutive weeks.

Bellator is also hosting an event at the Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie, Texas, (just outside of Dallas) one week before the San Antonio event on Thursday, May 20th.

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