Bellator Makes Iowa Debut to Host the Welterweight Semifinals from U.S. Cellular Center on Friday, October 18th

Newport Beach, CA. (September 30, 2013) – The Toughest Tournament in Sports will make its way to Iowa for the first time onFriday, October 18th, as Cedar Rapid’s U.S. Cellular Center  plays host to Bellator MMA’s Welterweight Semifinals. The event will be broadcast live on Spike TV at 8 p.m. CT and also showcase a handful of Iowa’s local talent. Tickets for the event can be purchased by visiting Ticketmaster.com or by contacting the U.S. Cellular Center Box Office.

Iowa’s own Paul Bradley will fight in front of his home state and face former Bellator Welterweight Tournament winner, Karl Amoussou. A two-time all-American wrestler at Iowa, Bradley holds an impressive 20-5 professional record and will make his Bellator debut on October 18th.

Fellow Iowa native Joe Vedepo will also step into the Bellator cage will and face Kendall Grove in a middleweight battle. Known for developing a modified shin choke called “The Vedepo Choke”, Vedepo has won seven of his 14 victories by submission, six coming in the first round.  Four additional Iowa athletes will fight on the preliminary card and all of the preliminary fights will card will be streamed exclusively on Spike.com.

Headlining the night will be one of the most talented divisions with the Bellator Welterweight Semifinals. Judo Olympian Rick Hawn will face former Bellator Tournament Finalist Brent Weedman and the always exciting War Machine will battle semifinalist Ron Keslar.

The full fight card is listed below.

MAIN CARD:
Bellator Welterweight Tournament Semifinal: Rick Hawn (16-2) vs. Brent Weedman (22-8-10
Bellator Welterweight Tournament Semifinal: War Machine (14-4) vs. Ron Keslar (10-3)
Heavyweight Feature Fight: Eric Prindle (8-3) vs. Peter Graham (8-5)
Middleweight Feature Fight: Kendall Grove (18-13) vs. Joe Vedepo (14-6)

Welterweight Feature Fight: Paul Bradley (20-5) vs. Karl Amoussou (16-5-2)

Featherweight Feature Fight: Rob Emerson (12-10) vs. Jared Downing (9-3)

Lightweight Feature Fight: Rod Montoya (15-15) vs. Paul Sass (13-2)

Featherweight Feature Fight: Derek Loffer (4-1) vs. Cliff Wright Jr. (7-5) 
Lightweight Feature Fight: Mike Estus (3-0) vs. Cole Williams (9-2)

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.facebook.com/BellatorMMA  

Bellator MMA is the world’s largest tournament based Mixed Martial Arts organization. Televised to nearly 500 Million homes worldwide in over 115 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.

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