Thursday night’s Bellator 23 event featured Bellator Fighting Championships’ Season 2 Featherweight and Middleweight finals. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire took on Joe Warren in the Featherweight final and Russian Fighter Alexander Shlemenko faced Bryan Baker in the Season 2 Middleweight tournament.

Bellator 23 took place at the Fourth Street Live! entertainment and retail complex in Louisville, Kentucky and was broadcast live on FOX Sports Net. Fans can expect a highlights package to air Saturday on NBC, Telemundo and mun2.

Joe Warren fought a hard fought three round battle against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire in the Featherweight Tournament Final. The “Pitbull” came out hard in the first round pressing the attack and was close to ending the fight with a standing arm-triangle choke which Warren worked free of. The second and third saw Freire slow down, which allowed Warren to take the fight to the ground and score some points. Warren earned the split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) from the judges and will meet Bellator Featherweight champ Joe Soto in season three.

It didn’t take long for Russian Middleweight Alexander Shlemenko to find his range and finish Bryan Baker in the Season 2 Middleweight Tournament Final. Both fighters exchanged briefly with both men trading kicks in the opening minute. Shlemenko misses a kick only to eat one from Baker and is sent to the mat. The Russian is quite to rebound and gets back to his feet to drop his opponent with a liver shot. Shlemenko pounces for the finish and forces the stoppage with some strong ground and pound at 2:45 of the first round. Shlemenko will now go on to meet Bellator’s middleweight champion Hector Lombard in season three.

The full Bellator 23 results are as follows:

Main Card:

Featherweight Tournament Championship: Joe Warren def. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Middleweight Tournament Championship: Alexander Shlemenko def. Bryan Baker via TKO – R1, 2:45
Bantamweight Showcase Fight: Nik Mamalis def. Albert Rios via TKO – R1, 4:30
Female Showcase Fight: Zoila Frausto def. Rosi Sexton via knockout – R1, 2:00

Preliminary Card:

Local Main Event: Brent Weedman def. John Troyer via submission (arm-bar) – R1, 4:55*
Local Feature Fight #3: Daniel Straus def. Chad Hinton via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)*
Local Feature Fight #2: Stoney Hale def. Mike Fleniken via submission (rear-naked choke) – R2, 4:20
Local Feature Fight #1: Kurt Kinser def. David Overfield via TKO – R1, 2:30

* – bouts took place after the televised card.

Make no mistake about it - Joe Warren was in trouble.

The hard-nosed, never-say-die wrestling stud looked to have finally met
his match in the explosive Patricio "Pitbull" Freire, and it was only
the bell that helped Warren survive the opening frame of the pair's main
card featherweight matchup at Thursday's Bellator Fighting Championship 23 event in
Louisville, Ky.

But Warren dug deep in the final two frames and took advantage of a
slowing "Pitbull" while wrestling his way to a hard-fought
split-decision in Bellator's final season-two event.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (June 23, 2010) — On the eve of Bellator Fighting Championships’ much-anticipated show at the Fourth Street Live entertainment district in downtown Louisville, the fighters competing in tomorrow’s event participated in an official weigh-in earlier this evening.

Bellator 23 will be broadcast live in prime time nationwide on Thursday on FOX Sports Net and during special Bellator highlight shows this Saturday night on NBC, Telemundo and mun2.

The official results of the weigh-in are as follows:

MAIN CARD:

Patricio Pitbull (144 lbs.) vs. Joe Warren (144 lbs.) @ 145 lbs.

Alexander Shlemenko (185 lbs.) vs. Bryan Baker (184 lbs.) @ 185 lbs.

Nik Mamalis (135 lbs.) vs. Albert Rios (135 lbs.) @135 lbs.

Zoila Frausto (120 lbs.) vs. Rosi Sexton (121 lbs.) @120 lbs.

UNDERCARD:

John Troyer (171 lbs.) vs. Brent Weedman (170 lbs.) @170 lbs.

Daniel Straus (154 lbs.) vs. Chad Hinton (156 lbs.) @ 155 lbs.

Stoney Hale (182 lbs.) vs. Mike Fleniken (183 lbs.) @ 185 lbs.

David Overfield (160 lbs.) vs. Kurt Kinser (155 lbs.) @ 160 lbs.*

* Kinser agreed to a 160 lbs. catchweight after Overfield weighed in overweight

Bellator Fighting Championships’ next event, Bellator 23, is set to take place on Thursday night featuring Middleweight Tournament finalists Bryan “The Beast” Baker and Alexander Shlemenko and Featherweight Tournament finalists Joe Warren and Patricio Pitbull.

On Wednesday the fighters weighed in at the Sports & Social Club, 427 S. Fourth Street in Louisville. The same venue will host Thursday nights action.

The event will air live on FOX Sports Net (or on a few hours’ delay if preempted by local sports programming) beginning at 8 PM EST (5 PM PST), with a highlights packages airing Saturday on NBC, Telemundo and mun2.

The full fight card and fighter weights for Bellator 23 is as follows:

Main Card:

Featherweight Tournament Championship: Patricio Pitbull (144) vs. Joe Warren (144)
Middleweight Tournament Championship: Alexander Shlemenko (185) vs. Bryan Baker (185)
Bantamweight Showcase Fight: Nik Mamalis (135) vs. Albert Rios (135)
Female Showcase Fight: Zoila Frausto (120) vs. Rosi Sexton (121)

Preliminary Card:

Local Main Event: John Troyer (171) vs. Brent Weedman (170)
Local Feature Fight #3: Daniel Straus (154) vs. Chad Hinton (156)
Local Feature Fight #2: Stoney Hale (182) vs. Mike Fleniken (183)
Local Feature Fight #1: David Overfield (160) vs. Kurt Kinser (155)

All 16 fighters competing in Thursday's season-two-concluding Bellator
23 event, including featherweight tournament finalists Patricio
"Pitbull" Freire and Joe Warren, as well as middleweight finalists Bryan
Baker and Alexander Shlemenko, successfully made weight for the show.

Weigh-ins took place Wednesday at the Fourth Street Live! entertainment
complex in Louisville, Ky., the same venue that hosts Thursday's FOX
Sports Net-televised event.

Freire, Warren and Baker actually weighed one pound under their
respective required marks while Shlemenko hit the
middleweight limit of 185 pounds.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (June 17, 2010) – Bellator Fighting Championships crowned its second Season 2 champion Thursday night as former NCAA wrestling superstar and U.S. Olympian Ben Askren put on a grappling clinic to neutralize knockout artist and rising MMA star Dan Hornbuckle in a dominating and well-rounded performance.

The 25-year-old University of Missouri product drew from the vocal support of an adoring crowd at the Kansas City Power & Light District to win a unanimous decision victory and complete the metamorphosis from highly touted prospect to full-fledged MMA star that many experts had predicted.

With his new wife Amy watching cageside, Askren (6-0) controlled the fight from the start, taking the veteran Hornbuckle to the mat early on in all three rounds and holding him at bay with his world-class wrestling skills. Hornbuckle tried to stop the momentum a few times, attempting a triangle choke mid-way through Round 2 and a kimura mid-way through Round 3, but Askren was able to escape both submissions.

“This is exactly the kind of performance we had hoped Ben would put on when we signed him six months ago,” Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “He showed some great talent in his first two Bellator fights but saved the best performance for last. It was a tremenously impressive night for Ben all the way around.  As an MMA fan, I cannot wait to see his World Title fight against Lyman Good this fall. ”

Afterward, Askren told Bellator color commentator Jimmy Smith that he has already shifted his sights to reigning Bellator Welterweight Champion Lyman Good, who he’ll face in a title fight later this year.

“Lyman, keep my belt warm,” he said as his hometown crowd egged him on. “Shine it up once a week and enjoy it while you can because it’s mine, baby.”

Joining Askren in the winner’s circle was Lisa Ward, the 27-year-old Seattle-based submission artist who improved her pro record to 13-3 and gave fans a sneak preview of what they’ll see when she enters the cage as part of Bellator’s upcoming Season 3 Women’s Tournament beginning in August.

Ward wasted no time locking 19-year-old MMA up-and-comer Stephanie Frausto (2-2) into a tight rear-naked choke, putting her to sleep and ending the fight via technical submission just 2:01 into Round 1. Ward said after the fight that she is hoping for tournament matchup with Megumi Fujii, the world’s No. 1 pound-for-pound female fighter, who handed Ward one of her three losses during a 2007 showdown in Canada.

“I would love another shot at Megumi,” Ward said. “We definitely have some unfinished business.”

Earlier, 24-year-old Missouri native Jose Vega delivered yet another Bellator “YouTube moment” with a highlight-reel knockout of North Carolina-based jiu-jitsu specialist Jarrod “The Wild Card” Card just 39.8 seconds into the first round of their “Bantamweight Feature Fight.”

After setting it up with a pair of stiff leg kicks, Vega (8-3) connected with a left hook to Card’s jaw, knocking him unconscious and dropping him to the canvas, bringing Vega’s many hometown fans to their feet.

“I’m lost for words,” an emotional Vega said afterward. “I’ve never had a KO before, but my hands have improved – [former Bellator fighters] Brian Davidson, James Krause and Tyler Stinson have been helping me with that. I saw the opening and I just went for it.”

In the first televised fight of the night, IFL and M1 veteran Raphael Davis improved his record to 9-1 by dominating Arena Football League veteran and one-time Nebraska state high school wrestling champion Demetrius Richards (5-3). Davis took the fight to the ground early on and quickly took Richards’ back, wearing him down with hammer fists and a flurry of knees to the body before Richards submitted to punches just 2:51 into Round 1.

The event also played host to five Local Feature Fights:

-       Tyler Stinson def. Leonardo Pecanha via rear-naked choke (1:42)

-       Rudy Bears def. Brian Green via rear-naked choke (3:49)

-       Cole Konrad def. John Orr via unanimous decision

-       Jared Downing def. Chad Vandenberg via rear-naked choke (11:35)

Fans who missed Thursday night’s action can watch all the best moments this weekend during special highlight shows on NBC, Telemundo and the cable network mun2. Check your local listings for exact dates and times.

Bellator returns to action next Thursday night from the Fourth Street Live entertainment district in downtown Louisville, Ky., where Bellator will conclude its second season with the championship rounds of its Middleweight and Featherweight Tournaments.

The two championship fights and the rest of the Bellator 23 featured card will again be televised live on FOX Sports Net.

Nearly a month after his fight with Bobby Lashley was scratched, undefeated heavyweight Ron Sparks is headed to Bellator Fighting Championships.

The promotion today announced that it has signed Sparks to fight at Bellator 23, which takes place June 24 at the Fourth Street Live! entertainment district in Louisville, Ky.

MMAjunkie.com has since confirmed with the promotion that Sparks meets Dave Hess in the non-televised "local co-feature" bout.

CHICAGO, Ill. (June 15, 2010) — Ron “The Monster” Sparks, an undefeated heavyweight KO artist and Kentucky native has signed on to fight in the “Local Co-Main Event” during Bellator 23 at the Fourth Street Live entertainment district in downtown Louisville next Thursday.

Sparks, a longtime boxer and kickboxer who has also been training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu for the past four years, is a perfect 5-0 as a pro MMA fighter, including four first-round knockouts. Three of his fights lasted less than 40 seconds.

He was originally scheduled to face the undefeated Bobby Lashley at tomorrow night’s Strikeforce event in Los Angeles, but was freed up to sign with Bellator after Lashley withdrew from the fight late last month because of injury.

“We are happy to have an up-and-coming heavyweight like Ron taking part in the Local Co-Main Event of our Louisville show,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Ron knocks people out and fans love to see that in the heavyweight division, so Ron should put on a great show for the fans in Louisville.”

Sparks, 36, was introduced to combat sports by his father, who studied martial arts during the Vietnam War. He began taking classes in kickboxing as a teenager and became a regular sparring partner for a variety of local boxers and kickboxers while also competing in a wide variety of kickboxing promotions himself, including K-1.

In 2006, he met Louisville-based MMA manager and trainer Jason Weihe, who convinced him to give the sport a try. In addition to his five wins, he’s also been booked as an opponent for a bevy of top heavyweights including Ray Mercer, Tim Sylvia and Bob Sapp, only to have those fights fall through because when those opponents backed out.

Sparks calls his new contract with Bellator “the next big step” in his career.

“Bellator’s a great organization and this is a great opportunity to fight in front of my hometown crowd,” Sparks said. “I love to keep the fight on my feet and I love going for the knockout. There ain’t nothin’ better in this world than knockin’ a guy out.”

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

In their latest high-profile women's MMA booking, Bellator officials are finalizing a bout between British fighter Rosi Sexton and Zoila Frausto for its season-ending Bellator 23 show.

A source close to the event told MMAjunkie.com the fight will be contested at a catch-weight of 121 pounds.

Bellator 23 takes place June 24 at the Fourth Street Live! entertainment district in downtown Louisville, Ky.

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.