Bellator Welterweight Tournament Adds Paul Bradley, Nathan Coy & Cristiano Souza
War Machine, Joe Riggs and Mark Scanlon Unable To Compete
Newport Beach, Calif. (March 8, 2014) – The Bellator Welterweight Tournament is set to begin on Friday, March 14th and The Toughest Tournament In Sports has received a shakeup as Paul Bradley, Nathan Coy and Cristiano Souza have been added to the field, while War Machine, Joe Riggs and Mark Scanlon have withdrawn from the tournament. The night will be headlined by the trilogy fight between Bellator Featherweight Champion Daniel Straus and challenger Pat Curran, live on Spike Friday, March 14th at 9pm EST/ 8pm CST. War Machine and Riggs have both withdrawn with documented medical conditions.
With the changes, the tournament pairings have been rearranged. Russian striker Andrey Koreshkov will now face Nah’Shon Burrell, while Bellator veteran Sam Oropeza will now battle Souza. Jesse Juarez will face Adam McDonough, with Bradley and Coy rounding out the eight man field.
“We’ve been riding a great wave of not losing any fights or fighters from our Tournaments. And, while losing any fighter from a tournament is never something we’re happy to see happen, it’s part of the sport and it’s a huge credit to our talent team to have developed the depth in the division to replace fighters with talent like Paul Bradley, Nathan Coy and Cristiano Souza,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “It creates an opportunity for fighters to showcase their skills on a huge platform, and that’s a positive. When you look at a guy like Brennan Ward, he was a fighter that was featured primarily on our preliminary shows, and when injury struck our Middleweight Tournament last year, Brennan stepped up as a last minute replacement and ran through an incredibly tough tournament, and will be fighting for our title against one of the best in the world in Alexander Shlemenko. Injuries can provide those opportunities, and I’m looking forward to seeing if the next Brennan Ward steps up through this new group from The Horseshoe in Hammond, Indiana.”
The full fight card for Bellator 112 can be found below:
MAIN CARD: Bellator Featherweight World Title Fight: Daniel Straus (22-4) vs. Pat Curran (19-5) Bellator Welterweight Tournament Opening Round: Andrey Koreshkov (14-1) vs. Nah’ Shon Burrell (11-3) Bellator Welterweight Tournament Opening Round: Sam Oropeza (10-2) vs. Cristiano Souza (7-0) Bellator Welterweight Tournament Opening Round: Jesse Juarez (21-8) vs. Adam McDonough (9-0)
PRELIMINARY CARD: Bellator Welterweight Tournament Opening Round: Nathan Coy (13-4) vs. Paul Bradley (21-5) Welterweight Feature Fight: A.J. Matthews (6-2) vs. Belal Muhammad (4-0) Bantamweight Feature Fight: Diego Marlon (24-8) vs. Lloyd Carter (5-5) Featherweight Feature Fight: Darrion Caldwell (3-0) vs. Lance Surma (2-0) Lightweight Feature Fight: Derek Loffer (6-2) vs. Bobby Reardanz (8-12) Light-Heavyweight Feature Fight: Jason Guida (19-27) vs. Anthony Gomez (7-2) Heavyweight Feature Fight: Daniel James (debut) vs. Erick Correa (2-0)
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
About Bellator MMA
Bellator MMA is the world’s largest tournament based Mixed Martial Arts organization. Televised to nearly 500 Million homes worldwide in over 140 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 175 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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