Country star Trace Adkins to sing national anthem at Saturday's Bellator 192 event

Saturday’s Bellator 192 event is a biggie, so the organization is upping the pomp and circumstance.

Officials today announced country star Trace Adkins will sing the national anthem at the event.

Bellator 192 takes place at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., and the main card airs on Paramount following prelims on MMAjunkie.

The choice of Adkins should help boost ratings on CMT, which will simulcast Saturday’s event. The country-music and lifestyle station also aired Bellator 180, which preceded the Bellator NYC pay-per-view broadcast, this past June.

Here’s more, from Bellator:

“Adkins has a long history with CMT, as he won ‘CMT Male Video of the Year in 2008’ and ‘Collaborative Video of the Year’ for ‘Hillbilly Bone’ with Blake Shelton in 2010. Adkins’ recent hit single, ‘Still A Soldier,’ salutes America’s true heroes, the brave men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces. Bellator MMA proudly supports our veterans with the ‘VOW Fights’ initiative.”

Bellator 192, which goes head to head with UFC 220, features a Chael Sonnen (29-15-1 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) vs. Quinton Jackson (37-12 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) tournament bout and welterweight champ Douglas Lima (29-6 MMA, 11-2 BMMA) vs. Rory MacDonald (19-4 MMA, 1-0 BMMA).

For complete coverage of Bellator 192, check out the MMA Events section of the site.

The Blue Corner is MMAjunkie‘s official blog and is edited by Mike Bohn.