Bellator VII Card Announced

by Chris Nelson on Apr 27, 2009 4:13 PM EDT

While CEO Bjorn Rebney is talking about a possible move to ESPN2, the matchmaking department over at Bellator Fighting Championships is maintaining a furious pace to keep up with their weekly schedule for ESPN Deportes. Today, the promotion announced its third official card in as many business days; this time they'll head north from Texas to the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, IL. The welterweight semifinals between Dave Menne/Omar de la Cruz and "The Naked Man" Jorge Ortiz/Lyman Good should be great stuff based on what I saw at Bellator II, and the undercard features the pro debut of Brandon Vera's wife Kerry Vera as well as Anthony Lapsley (one half of last year's infamous Lapsely-Wetherspoon double-KO), Brazilian Marcelo "Cricket" Alfaya, and UFC heavyweight washout Eddie Sanchez.

Here's the full fight card; the rest of the press release follows.

Welterweight World Championship Semi-Final Tournament Bouts:
170 lbs. – Dave Menne (43-15-2) vs. Omar De La Cruz (4-1)
170 lbs. – Jorge Ortiz (16-4) vs. Lyman Good (8-0)

Non-Tournament Bouts:
155 lbs. – Troy Gerhart (4-0) vs. Lorenzo Borgomeo (5-1)
HW – Eddie Sanchez (8-3) vs. Jay White (4-5)
155 lbs. – Alonzo Martinez (22-13-1) vs. Victor Meza (9-1)
170 lbs. – Jesse Juarez (9-5) vs. Marcelo Alfaya (10-5)
170 lbs. – Anthony Lapsley (14-4) vs. Ryan Williams (7-4)
170 lbs. – Jacob Volkman (8-0) vs. Kevin Knabjian (10-3-1)
135 lbs. – Kerry Vera (Pro debut) vs. Leslie Smith (4-0)

CHICAGO’S ARAGON BALLROOM HOSTS BELLATOR MMA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINALS

Bellator Welterweight World Championship Finalists to be Decided at Windy City Landmark

Los Angeles, Calif. – Apr. 27, 2009 – Bellator Fighting Championships continues its 12 week nationwide world championship series with its seventh event taking place at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom on May 15, 2009. The Chicago event will send two warriors to the finals of Bellator’s Welterweight (170 lbs.) world championships.

Returning from his stunning come-from-behind victory against formerly undefeated Norman Paraisy, former UFC Champion Dave Menne will continue his fight to capture the Bellator Fighting Championships Welterweight world championship title against the Dominican Republic’s pride Omar De La Cruz. And continuing his undefeated assault, phenomenon Lyman Good will clash with Mexican powerhouse Jorge “The Naked Man” Ortiz for a chance to compete for the Bellator World Title in June. All the action will happen live at the Aragon Ballroom Friday, May 15, 2009 and air exclusively on ESPN Deportes on Saturday May 16, 2009.

Bellator VII will award the winning Welterweight warriors with $50,000 each as they move one step closer to the Bellator Welterweight world championships belt and the $100,000 grand prize.

“This Chicago event will be spectacular. We have two single elimination Welterweight world title tournament semi-final bouts, and a collection of very evenly matched special feature fights,” remarked Bellator Fighting Championships CEO Bjorn Rebney. “In the Bellator World Championship tournament, fighters control their own destiny; they decide who makes it to the world title bout and how much they earn, it’s a magical combination of ability, skill, drive and passion that fuels the fighters in this series.”

Bellator VII on Friday May 15, 2009 will feature two tournament bouts in the Welterweight category and seven undercard matches. Tickets go on sale today at 7pm, Monday Apr. 27, 2009 and are available at the Aragon Ballroom Box Office, Aragon.com, Ticketmaster.com or by calling 800.745.3000. Ticket prices will range from $25 to $100.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

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CEO Bjorn Rebney is talking about a possible move to ESPN2

Be nice if they put a rush on this and showed Saturdays broadcast on ESPN2. I could go for some Alvarez and Masvidal action with Anik calling it.

Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."

by xFenixKnightx on Apr 27, 2009 3:07 PM EDT reply actions

Dave Menne and Eddie Sanchez are recognizable names, I think Bellator is putting out a good product. Well-organized and seemingly reputable. They are shaping up to be just a step below Strikeforce, one more option for event-hungry MMA fans and another place for the “UFC washouts”.

by Fooshnickens on Apr 27, 2009 3:10 PM EDT reply actions

They’re got some good prospects too. I expect the Volkmann and Knabjian fight to be really good. Volkmann is one of the best grapplers I’ve seen on the circuit lately. Crazy good skills.

by mictlantechutli on Apr 27, 2009 7:36 PM EDT up reply actions

I’ve heard nothing but great things about Volkmann. Hopefully Bellator makes all their prelims available on DVD in the future.

by Chris Nelson on Apr 27, 2009 7:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Too much fractioning of the sport. It’s annoying to see various fighters being exclusive to specific organizations. And i don’t think Zuffa co-promoting is the answer either. The casual fans typically want one organization to watch their MMA. It’s only the more devoted fans that follow the sport beyond the UFC.

Organizations like Bellator and Strikeforce really need to become feeder systems to the UFC.

by AlwaysRelaxing on Apr 27, 2009 3:54 PM EDT reply actions

Or not.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Apr 27, 2009 4:57 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs

Yeah...No

Brad Ziegler had a scoreless inning streak. Brad Ziegler had not met BJ Upton.

by P Brady on Apr 27, 2009 5:37 PM EDT up reply actions

good point

Very good point but I just wonder if there is an ideal way to run the fight game. The sanctioning body system of boxing is ideal but the problem there is if you don’t like a sanctioning body you just go out and create a new one. Hence all the fragmentation. MMA’s promotion-based system keeps order but as you stated it traps fighters into one organization to compete against stagnant talent. WAMMA doesn’t seem to hold any street cred so far and promoters outside Affliction won’t recognize it. Is there an answer to all this madness that makes sense?

by Fooshnickens on Apr 27, 2009 5:45 PM EDT up reply actions