For Bellator Fighting Championships, the timing couldn't have been any better. USA Today's Sergio Non reported late last night that Viacom, MTV2's parent company, had bought a majority stake in the Chicago-based mixed martial arts promotion, and it will move the promotion from its current home on MTV2 to Spike TV in 2013.
In February, Bellator, the consensus #2 mixed martial arts promotion in North America, signed a three-year deal with MTV2 to air live events. Understandably, fans following the promotion became giddy with excitement. No longer would they have to wait for tape-delayed broadcasts or other fans in different markets to upload the events to the Internet.
As of right now, Spike TV owns UFC programming rights through 2012, putting a thorn in the UFC's back as they move forward with their new television partner Fox. There is an option for the UFC to buy back the rights, but it will eliminate a clause in the deal that stops Spike TV from bringing in another promotion to fill the void.
Back in August after the UFC announced that it had inked an historic deal with Fox, one of the major questions rooted from the news was whether Bellator Fighting Championships, now the assumed #2 promotion in the landscape of MMA after Zuffa acquired Strikeforce, would replace the UFC on Spike TV.
