Bellator fans have been waiting for this fight for a long time, and one of the biggest fights in the promotion's short history is finally on the calendar. Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren will defend his title against season four welterweight tournament winner Jay Hieron on at Bellator 56 on October 29th in Kansas City. This will be Askren's first title defense.

Askren won the season two welterweight tournament and dominated Lyman Good to take a unanimous decision and the welterweight title back at Bellator 33 last October. He defeated Nick Thompson in a non-title match at Bellator 40 in April. Hieron, as mentioned above, won the season four welterweight tournament by winning close decisions over Brent Weedman in the semi-finals and Rick Hawn in the finals. He is currently on an eight-fight winning streak.

It is well known that these two men do not like each other, and have traded jabs on twitter for months now. It is a bit curious that Bellator would book this fight for the same night as UFC 137 though. With two of the most anticipated welterweight fights of the year on that UFC card, which directly compete with it with their welterweight title fight? Either way, October 29th will be a great night for 170 pound MMA action.