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A new era in Bellator
MMA will begin very soon.
Bellator President Scott Coker revealed at a press conference
on Friday that the promotion will be ending its arrangement with
Paramount Network following
Bellator 246 on Saturday. Due to the merger of Viacom and CBS,
Bellator will be relocated to the CBS Sports Network starting with
a pair of European shows beginning on Oct. 1. Bellator will head to
Milan, Italy, for
Bellator 247 on the first of October, and then
Paris on Oct. 10.
“I am thrilled that Bellator live events will be coming to CBS
Sports Network beginning on Oct. 1, as well as the unique
opportunities the partnership creates across all CBS Sports
platforms,” Coker explained. “CBS Sports is synonymous with iconic
sports broadcasting and it is incredible to now have Bellator MMA
included in that family. I would like to thank Paramount Network,
formerly Spike TV, for the years of support that helped build
Bellator into the organization that it is today, and this news
marks yet another exciting relationship between two ViacomCBS
properties. I look forward to bringing the biggest fights,
featuring the top athletes in the world, live to CBS Sports Network
and introducing Bellator to an entirely new audience this
fall.”
There have been some changes to the European schedule compared to
what the promotion advertised previously, as Bellator will no
longer be holding a card in Dublin nor will it put four shows in
Milan, Italy. Instead, only one in Milan and one in Paris are on
the books, although Coker did mention that other event
announcements would follow in the coming days. The two previously
announced bouts of Michael
Page vs. Ross
Houston at welterweight and Cheick Kongo
vs. Timothy
Johnson at heavyweight will be on the
Paris show, and a headliner may still be in the works.
The first domestic CBS Sports Bellator card will be
Bellator 249, where it will be headlined by a women’s
featherweight championship bout between Cristiane
Justino (22-2, 1 NC) and Arlene
Blencowe (13-7). The event on Oct. 15 will be airing live
across the country, and the promotion will no longer tape delay
cards shown on the west coast. It will be held at the Mohegan Sun
Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, which will also play host to
another blockbuster card at the end of the month.
Bellator will return to the Mohegan Sun Arena on
Oct. 29, in an event topped by a middleweight title fight
pitting Gegard
Mousasi (46-7-2) against current welterweight king Douglas
Lima (32-7). In this event that will also take place on CBS
Sports, Lima will attempt to become the third fighter in
promotional history to serve as a simultaneous two-division
champion, following the path set by Ryan Bader
and Patricio
Freire. Both this card and the one headlined by “Cyborg” will
be held on Thursdays. All preliminary bouts for these shows can be
seen on Bellator’s YouTube channel as well as CBSSports.com going
forward. The company is still working with Dazn for the time being,
and there are ongoing negotiations pertaining to the future of
Bellator and the streaming service.
The featherweight grand prix that was paused due to the coronavirus
pandemic will also resume likely in November, according to Coker.
“We’re gonna start picking up speed on the tournament,” he
explained, while stating that the lineup will remain as it was
before pausing. Two quarterfinal bouts of Freire-Pedro
Carvalho and Emmanuel
Sanchez–Daniel
Weichel remain, and one semifinal of A.J. McKee vs.
Darion Caldwell is also on the slate for future Bellator
offerings.
Coker wrapped by admitting that there is a plan in the works to
hold a “Dynamite” type event with multiple combat sports in a
single card, including kickboxing, MMA and possibly boxing. Working
with Showtime Sports President Stephen Espinoza, Coker felt the
parent company supported the plan to revive the tentpole events
Bellator put on in 2015 and 2016 with Bellators 142 and 157,
respectively.