Bellator 99 Kicks Off Season 9 with Three-Hour TV Special, Includes Fight Master Finale

Bellator 99 will kick off the promotion’s ninth season this fall with a special three-hour live broadcast on Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.  The show will also serve as the live season finale for the inaugural run of the Fight Master: Bellator MMA reality series.

The event features Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko putting his belt on the line against Season 8 tournament winner Doug Marshall, the final bout of Fight Master, the return of former featherweight champion and current Fight Master coach Joe Warren, and the opening round of the promotion’s Season 9 Middleweight Tournament.

Warren will square off with Nick Kirk, who as fought for Bellator before, but lost his promotional debut in by split decision to Tony Zelinski.

“Nick Kirk, if I was you, I would probably not show up that day, because I’m gonna put you through a Bellator cage,” Warren said during the Bellator 96 broadcast on Wednesday night.

“I know what it feels like to have that Bellator belt wrapped around your waist, and I want it back,” he added. “I’ve got Nick Kirk standing in my way to start the tournament, he’s a tough guy but nothing is going to get in my way if it means getting back that belt.”

The event will broadcast live starting at 8 p.m. EST on Spike. The preliminary card will be streamed live on Spike.com starting at 6:00 p.m. EST. Tickets for the event will be on sale Thursday, June 20.

“This Fall’s season is the most stacked season we’ve ever had and this special Saturday night, 3-hour kick off free on Spike TV is an amazing first act,” Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “This Middleweight World Title fight has fight of the year written all over it.  Adding Joe’s return, the Fight Master finale and the opening round of the Middleweight tourney will be an incredible night of fights at Mohegan Sun.”

Be sure to Like MMAWeekly.com on Facebook and Follow @MMAWeeklycom on Twitter.