Bellator returns to PPV with Chael Sonnen-Wanderlei Silva as the main event. The event will take place on June 24th at Madison Square Garden in New York.
It will be the second PPV in the company’s history. In May 2014, Bellator 120 featured Rampage Jackson-King Mo and Michael Chandler-Eddie Alvarez. The event drew 100,000 PPV buys.
Sonnen is coming off a loss to Tito Ortiz this past January in Los Angeles. Silva has yet to fight for the promotion as he is serving a three-year suspension retroactive to May 24, 2014. He will be eligible for reinstatement to May 25, 2017.
The Associated Press first reported the event.
Bellator intends to debut some of its free agent signees in New York as well.
The event comes a week after a UFC Fight Night in Singapore and two weeks before International Fight Week.
Payout Perspective:
The announcement is a departure from the company intending to stay on cable TV. Sonnen-Silva is a long-time grudge match dating back several years and if the two remain healthy and available, the promotion and fight should draw more than the last time Bellator was on PPV. The news comes on the same day that Ryan Bader officially signed with the promotion. Expect Bader, Rampage and other former UFC fighters to be on the card.
Should be entertaining. I see this going over 100k buys.
Kind of BS that they are putting a match that was supposed to be on regular tv as the co-main…sorry but I will pass on the old timers PPV
Im a fan of Bellator, but not a fan of this, I am not interested in seeing them go the PPV route. I may get it but just to support them as an organization