King Mo Returns As Bellator MMA Invades Utah’s Maverik Center February 21st Live on Spike

Newport Beach, CA. (January 29, 2013) – After an explosive knockout victory in his Bellator debut, King Mo is set to return to the Bellator cage when he battles “The Hardcore Kid” Emmanuel Newton in a Light Heavyweight Semifinal fight on February 21^st from Utah’s Maverik Center live on Spike TV. The night will also feature the long anticipated Featherweight Tournament Finals as Utah’s Own Rad Martinez battles the dynamic Russian striker Shahbulat Shamhalaev for a $100,000 Tournament prize and a guaranteed title shot.

Tickets for the event start as low as $40 and can be purchased by visiting Ticketmaster.com, Bellator.com and the Maverik Center Box Office.

The event will broadcast LIVE starting at 8 p.m. MST on Spike, as well as in Spanish language on mun2. The preliminary card will be streamed LIVE and FREE on Spike.com starting at 6 p.m. MST.

Widely regarded as one of the best Light Heavyweights in the world, King Mo is well aware of the challenges that await him as Newton holds an impressive arsenal of wrestling and standup skills that to date with be King Mo’s toughest tournament challenge. Having trained together at the legendary American Kickboxing Academy, both competitors are well aware of what’s at stake February 21^st.

“I said it after my quarterfinal win, and I’ll say it again, I’m looking to smash this dude,” King Mo said. “Emmanuel is a tough guy, but I know where my game is at, and if I focus on me, we won’t have any issues on February 21^st.  I’m always looking for that first round knockout, and that’s it.”

“This is my time. Everyone knows Mo and what he brings to the table, and he’s the guy I have to get through to get to my belt,” Newton said. “The belt is what I’m here for, and it doesn’t matter who is in my way to get there.”

For Martinez, the West Jordan native makes his Utah homecoming riding an impressive five fight win streak, including Bellator Tournament victories over top featherweights Nazareno Malegarie and Wagnney Fabiano. Already tasked with preparing for the biggest fight of his career, Martinez knows what’s at stake with his hometown crowd behind him.

“To have the opportunity to fight in Salt Lake City for the Bellator Featherweight Tournament Championship is just a dream come true,” Martinez said. “Utah has a great base of MMA fans, but we’ve never had a big MMA promotion come to Salt Lake City, so it’s a great honor to be headlining Utah’s first large scale MMA event.”

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA, follow Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney @BjornRebney and check out Bellator on Facebook at www.realcombatmedia.com

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, is 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.  Bellator MMA is comprised of an executive team that includes top industry professionals in television production, live event orchestration, fighter development/relations, venue procurement, sponsorship creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising, publicity and commission relations.  Bellator is based in Newport Beach, California.

Spike TV is available in 98.7 million homes and is a division of Viacom Media Networks.  A unit of Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), Viacom Media Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.  Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV’s press site at http://www.spike.com/press.  Follow us on Twitter @spiketvpr for the latest in breaking news updates, behind-the-scenes information and photos.

mun2 is the leading Hispanic cable network for young millennial adults 18-34.  From reality to music, on-air to digital, mun2 creates original content that resonates across a multi-screen platform.  Young, vibrant and unabashedly Latino, mun2 has a distribution to over 38 million households. The network is part of Telemundo Media, a division of NBCUniversal.