Bellator MMA premieres on Spike with a world title double header, as lightweight champion Michael Chandler defends his belt against Rick Hawn and featherweight kingpin Pat Curran puts his title on the line against Patricio Pitbull. Plus, the Season 8 light heavyweight tournament begins. The action starts at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT with live prelims right here!

About the show

Bellator MMA is the world’s largest tournament based Mixed Martial Arts organization. Televised to nearly 500 Million homes worldwide in over 107 countries, Bellator’s majority owner is entertainment giant Viacom. In the United States, Bellator can be seen on Spike TV, the MMA television leader. With over 150 world-class athletes under contract, Bellator is home to many of the sport’s top mixed martial artists. Bellator’s founder & CEO, Bjorn Rebney, an experienced fighting sports and entertainment executive with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes. Bellator’s core philosophy is that title shots should be earned, not given. This belief gave rise to Bellator’s real sport, tournament-based format, which gives Bellator’s tournaments a true playoff feel that keeps the sport true and distances itself from the subjective side of fighting sports found in organizations that utilize a matchmaking/casting formula.

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