Bellator MMA announced a New Year’s Eve TV event featuring Fedor Emelianenko. The 3 hour program will air on SpikeTV December 31st at 10am ET/PT.
Spike will begin its coverage of the Rizin World Fighting Grand-Prix with Fedor fighting an unnamed opponent in the main event. In addition, King Mo Lawal will fight in an 8-man tournament that will be shown during the December 31st show on Spike.
Via portion of the Spike TV release:
Bellator superstar King Mo will be part of the eight-man tournament that will begin on December 29. Details on the other participating fighters will be announced at a later date.
The MMA extravaganza also includes a catch-weight fight between Shinya Aoki and Kazushi Sakuraba along with Brazilian superstar Gabrielle Garcia, a jiu jitsu world champion, making her long-awaited MMA debut against pro wrestler “Queen of Rings” Lei’d Tapa.
Payout Perspective:
The event centers on the return of Fedor to MMA. While he is not a part of Bellator, its TV partner, Spike TV, is taking advantage of the opportunity to air the event. During a time in the United States where rerun marathons of shows and college football games dominate the dead week of television between December 25th and New Year’s, it will be interesting to see the viewership for this event. The morning time slot might hurt viewership although the hope is that many are taking the day off and will be home to watch the event.
I can't wait! says
Great! Sakuraba! Fedor! Finally, some real fighters. I can’t wait!