Bellator to Stream Season 5 Prelims Live on Spike.com

Beginning with Bellator 49 on Sept. 10, the Chicago-based promotion’s undercards will stream live on Spike.com, the website of cable channel Spike TV. Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney and Erik Flannigan, executive vice president of digital entertainment for Spike parent company MTV Networks Entertainment Group, jointly announced the plan Tuesday.

“We are thrilled to join forces with Spike.com,” Rebney said in the official release. “The Spike brand is synonymous with mixed martial arts worldwide and is another member of the MTV family [that] does an incredible job in resonating with the hard-to-reach 18-to-34-year-old male audience.”

Going down at Caesars Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., Bellator 49 will feature the quarterfinals of the promotion’s latest welterweight tournament. The undercard will be highlighted by bouts pitting Joel Roberts against Brylan VanArtsdalen and Giedrius Karavackas against LeVon Maynard. The preliminary draw will also see Brazilian featherweight prospect Alexandre Bezerra make his third trip to the Bellator cage, as “Popo” locks horns with Scott Heckman.