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[Cat--Smasher]

Bellator Debuts Jan. 17 on Spike with Chandler-Hawn, Curran-‘Pitbull’ Title Fights

Bellator Fighting Championships will debut on Spike TV with a pair of title fights, as Michael Chandler defends his lightweight championship against Rick Hawn in the Bellator 85 main event.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney announced the news during a Tuesday conference call, also revealing that the Jan. 17 main card will open with a featherweight title bout pitting reigning champion Pat Curran against Season 4 winner Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. The show takes place at UCI Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif., and the evening’s two-hour main draw airs live at 10 p.m. ET following Impact Wrestling.

A welterweight tournament showdown between War Machine and Paul Daley was initially voted for by fans to open the show, but an injury to War Machine has delayed that booking. In addition to the bouts at the top and bottom of the card, Bellator 85 will also see UFC veteran Renato “Babalu” Sobral make his promotional debut in a tournament bout alongside Seth Petruzelli and Jason Lambert, and Season 8 will feature tournaments in five weight categories ranging from featherweight to light heavyweight.

Bellator Debuts Jan. 17 on Spike with Chandler-Hawn, Curran-

[dorianb]

I'm really excited for Bellator to take this next step. The chance for more eyes to see the product is great now that it won't be on MTV 2 and it's always nice to see quality competition to the UFC. There's tons of televised MMA in this country, but most are potential talent feeders to the UFC. Bellator seems to have no aspirations to be that type of promotion and I love that.

[goodtimes]

Good stuff, I love the Hawn/Chandler fight. Hawn has looked really good at LW and Chandler is maybe one of the best prospects.

[MIZjitsZOU]

I can't wait for those two fights.

Like Goodtimes said Chandler is a hot prospect and Hawn looks like a beast at 170.

You got the Olympic Judoka versus the MIZZOU wrestler. Who the hell am I to root for? A good fight that is who. I think it will be competitive. Hawn has some crazy power. If he loses I would love to see him make another run towards the ww champ (still think he beat Jay in that fight).

Trow on Babulu and you have a terrific card.

Oh yeah you got Curran and Pitbull on there as well. I really like both of those guys as fighters. This has the makings of a great card and a great year for Bellator. Can't wait.