Bellator 81

Bellator Fighting Championships
Genre	Sports
Created by	Bjorn Rebney
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	120 minutes
Release
Original network	MTV 2
Original release	September 28 – December 14, 2012
Chronology
Preceded by	Bellator Fighting Championships: 2012 Summer Series
Followed by	Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Eight

Bellator 74
Information
Date	September 28, 2012
Venue	Caesars Atlantic City
City	Atlantic City, New Jersey

Bellator 75
Information
Date	October 5, 2012
Venue	Horseshoe Casino
City	Hammond, Indiana

Bellator 76
Information
Date	October 12, 2012
Venue	Caesars Windsor
City	Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Bellator 77
Information
Date	October 19, 2012
Venue	Reading Eagle Theater
City	Reading, Pennsylvania

Bellator 78
Information
Date	October 26, 2012
Venue	Nutter Center
City	Dayton, Ohio

Bellator 79
Information
Date	November 2, 2012
Venue	Casino Rama
City	Rama, Ontario

Bellator 80
Information
Date	November 9, 2012
Venue	Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
City	Hollywood, Florida

Bellator 81
Information
Date	November 16, 2012
Venue	Ryan Center
City	Kingston, Rhode Island

Bellator 82
Information
Date	November 30, 2012
Venue	Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort
City	Mt. Pleasant, Michigan

Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Seven was the seventh installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships, which began on September 28, 2012.

Mixed martial arts tournaments were held in several weight classes, including the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and heavyweight divisions.

Bellator 74 took place on September 28, 2012 at Caesars Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2. It was the season debut of season seven.

Background

Bellator 74 hosted the opening round in the Bellator Season Seven Welterweight Tournament.

Alexandre Bezerra was originally scheduled to face The Ultimate Fighter: Live alumni Jeff Smith. However, Smith failed his pre-fight medical and was replaced by Matt McCook in a 157 lb catchweight fight. Plinio Cruz and Kelvin Tiller were also originally announced to meet in a middleweight fight, but the bout was cancelled after Cruz sustained an injury in training.

Results

Bellator 75 took place on October 5, 2012 at The Venue in the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.

Background

Bellator 75 hosted the opening round in the Bellator Season Seven Heavyweight Tournament.

The event featured the long-planned rematch between season-five heavyweight tournament finalists Eric Prindle and Thiago Santos. Prindle and Santos met in the finals of Bellator's season-five heavyweight tourney, but the bout was ruled a no-contest when Santos inexplicably kicked a downed Prindle in the groin. The initial rematch was scheduled for Bellator 61. However, on March 15, Bellator announced the fight had been pushed back a week to Bellator 62 due to Prindle having "flu-like symptoms." The following week Santos failed to make weight and the bout was cancelled, and Prindle was awarded the tournament win by default. Incredibly, the fourth scheduled meeting of these two fighters again ended in controversy as this time Prindle accidentally kicked Santos in the groin in round one.

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Wikipedia