It’s been a big day for Bellator. First they officially announced the signing of Ryan Bader. Now the Associated Press reports that Bellator will be hosting a pay-per-view card from New York’s Madison Square Garden on June 24th.
“We always said that when we come to New York, we’ll bring the biggest and the best fight card we’ve ever had in the history of this company,” Bellator President Scott Coker related to the AP. “We’re putting it together, and our roster is robust enough that we feel like it’s time to get into the pay-per-view business, so here we go.”
Bellator 180 will be headlined by the long-awaited grudge match between Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva. The two were first supposed to fight way back in 2014, before both had run-ins with Nevada drug tests. Silva hasn’t fought since 2013; Sonnen lost to Tito Ortiz this past January and hasn’t won a fight since 2013.
“I’ve watched how hard Bellator has worked and how they’ve stuck through it, and I think they belong on pay-per-view,” Sonnen said to the AP. “After a I joined up, I was stunned that Bellator was packing houses from the East Coast to the West Coast. They’ve got a great product, and it just seemed like the next logical step was going into pay-per-view.”
Update: Fedor Emelianenko vs Matt Mitrione has been added to the card
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