The stage is set for an elite
group of Bellator lightweights looking to earn their title shot as The Reading
Eagle Theater at The Sovereign Center hosts Bellator 77 from Reading,
Pennsylvania on October 19 LIVE on MTV2 and in commercial free HD on EPIX. The
night will feature four quarterfinal fights to begin the Bellator Season 7
Lightweight Tournament, headlined by long time MMA veteran Rich “No Love”
Clementi taking on undefeated Russian phenom Alexander “Tiger” Sarnavskiy, as
well as a host of local talent.
Tickets start at $30 and are
on sale now and available at the VF Outlet Box Office at the Sovereign Center,
all Ticketmaster Outlets, by phone at 800.745.3000 or at Ticketmaster.com,
Sovereigncenter.com and Bellator.com. The Sovereign Center box office is
located at 700 Penn Street, Reading, PA.
The event will broadcast LIVE
on MTV2, mun2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX starting at 8 p.m. EST. The
preliminary card, featuring some of the area’s top local talent will be
streamed LIVE and FREE on Spike.com, with doors opening for the event at 6pm
EST.
Recently ranked as the
world’s #1 prospect at 155 pounds “Tiger” Sarnavskiy has finished nine of his
last 10 opponents, and has yet to face a battle he couldn’t handle. Armed with
a polished ground game and training under Bellator Middleweight title contender
Alexander Shlemenko, Sarnavskiy is prepared for the rigors he’ll soon face
inside the Bellator cage.
“The Bellator Tournament will
be a difficult test for me,” Sarnavskiy said. “I will train and prepare myself
the best I can. I have a huge responsibility to my coach, my manager, my fans
and my country. I won’t disappoint them and I want to show them a spectacular
performance.”
For Clementi, the long
traveled MMA veteran will get his first taste of Bellator tournament action
after collecting a vicious submission win over Derek Campos at Bellator 70
earlier this year. No stranger to a big fight, Clementi is the proud owner of
victories over Melvin Guillard, Sam Stout, Terry Etim and Anthony Johnson, and
is well aware what a victory over the 20-0 “Tiger” Sarnavskiy would mean for
his career.
“I don’t think I’ve felt this
good in a long time and I’m incredibly excited to get going and into this
tournament,” Clementi said. “I know Sarnavskiy is coming into this tournament
as one of the favorites, but I love the challenge, and I want to start to this
tournament off with a bang. Everyone is going to see the Rich Clementi they are
used to seeing, and Sarnavskiy is in for a rude awaking on October 19.”
Two Bellator veterans square
off as dynamic Brazilian lightweight Ricardo Tirloni will lock horns with “The
Brazilian Bomber” Rene Nazare in lightweight quarterfinal action. With a
combined 24-4 record between the two lightweights, both Tirloni and Nazare have
experienced a tremendous amount of success inside the cage, and will be looking
to move onto the semifinals will a big win on October 19
The night will also feature
the return of Polish phenom Marcin Held, as the dynamic submission ace is
primed for a long tournament run after winning his last three fights inside the
Bellator cage. Only 20, Held will have his hands full when he meets Russian
newcomer Murad Machaev. Nicknamed “The Chokeman”, Machaev brings a perfect 9-0
record to the Bellator cage including five submission finishes.
After starting his Bellator
career with a perfect 3-0 record, Dave Jansen is getting his first taste of
tournament action when the Oregon native will battle top Russian lightweight
Magomed Saadulaev. Only 29, Saadulaev boasts an impressive 14-1 record and has
collected 8 finishes in his career. Saadulaev will be making his American debut
and is gunning for a big victory on October 19 from The Reading Eagle Theater
at The Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania
Bellator 77 Season 7
Lightweight Tournament:
Dave Jansen vs. Magomed
Saadulaev
Marcin Held vs. Murad Machaev
Ricardo Tirloni vs. Rene
Nazare
Rich Clementi vs. Tiger
Sarnavskiy
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/Bellator
About Bellator Fighting
Championships
Bellator Fighting
Championships is the world’s largest tournament based Mixed Martial Arts
organization. Televised to nearly 500 Million homes worldwide, Bellator’s
majority owner is entertainment giant Viacom. In the United States, Bellator
can be seen on MTV2, in commercial-free HD on EPIX. Starting in January of 2013
Bellator will be broadcast on MMA television leader, Spike TV. With over 150
world-class athletes under contract, Bellator is home to many of the sport’s
top athletes. 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, believed 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
political/subjective side of fighting sports. Bellator Fighting Championships’
executive team is comprised of 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 Southern, California.
About MTV2
Available in approximately 80
million homes MTV2 is man’s best friend. Since its launch in 1996, the network
has reflected the subversive interests and behaviors of young men with a
compelling and diverse programming line-up inspired by ordinary guys who do
extraordinary things. MTV2 is part of Viacom Media Networks, one of the world’s
leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. For
more information, go to www.mtvpress.com or follow us on Twitter @MTVPress.
About EPIX
EPIX, a joint venture between
Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B), its Paramount Pictures unit,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), is a
next-generation premium entertainment channel, video-on-demand and online
service launched on October 30, 2009. With access to more than 15,000 motion
pictures spanning the vast libraries of its partners and other studios, EPIX
provides a powerful entertainment experience with more feature films on demand
and online and more HD movies than any other service. It is the only premium
service providing its entire monthly line-up of new Hollywood titles, classic
feature films, original series, music and comedy specials through the linear
channel, video-on-demand and online at EpixHD.com, the leading online
destination for movies.
EPIX has made the commitment
to deliver the industry’s most expansive online collection of movies, making
more than 3,000 titles available on EpixHD.com. The service is available to
over 30 million homes nationwide through distribution partners including
Charter Communications, Cox Communications, DISH Network, Mediacom
Communications, NCTC, Suddenlink Communications and Verizon FiOS.
About mun2
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