Chicago, IL - Bellator Fighting Championships will make Fighting sports history as they announced Tuesday a ground breaking TV deal with NBC, Fox Sports Net (FSN) and Telemundo network. The promotion will be available for 24 weeks in 2010 and will be shown throughout millions of homes over the span of the three networks; with NBC having the most viewers the promotion has a unique opportunity to bring its Brand of MMA to the main stream.

Last season the Promotion blasted onto the scene creating new fans and satisfying hardcore ones alike, as the event captured fans with its excitement and gave us a feel for the old tournament style MMA event. CEO Bjorn Rebney would hope to repeat the success only this time he looks forward to the exposure being given to a wider audience since this time the event will be broadcasted mainstream.

“Since our launch earlier this year, there has been an overwhelming demand from MMA fans nationwide for us to broadcast our events live and through a widely available platform. “We are thrilled to have signed this groundbreaking agreement with FOX Sports Net, NBC and Telemundo, which will bring our unique and exciting brand of tournament-based MMA events to a dramatically expanded audience of both English- and Spanish-speaking fans. Rebney said Tuesday.

Tapping into the Spanish Market was a key component in the success first season of the promotion; it helped develop a fan base in the Latin culture, a fan base deeply rooted in Combat sports. The deal with Telemundo network will bring the event to about 62 million homes in the Spanish speaking community, which could only mean more exposure for the event.
With this deal the tournament style event will air Thursdays beginning in April on FSN and on its sports affiliates, from there NBC will take highlights from the live show and air a 30 minute show of the event that following Saturday. The Telemundo broadcast of the event will also come on Saturday but it would come late night as the show would air from midnight to 1 a.m.

Both seasons are expecting to air consecutively it would seem with only a little more then a month between the two. While the second season will air in April and run for 12 weeks while the third season will start in August and end 12 weeks after that.
Representatives from NBC and FSN would be on hand Tuesday as the deal was announced.

David Sussin, VP of Programming would go on to say We’re thrilled to bring Bellator’s brand of MMA to our viewers. We believe the quality of the events and the passion of these fighters will resonate with our audience”.

While NBC Executive VP Jerry Petry would be ecstatic saying “Mixed martial arts has established its position by becoming one of the fastest-growing sports. Bellator and its real sport tournament format has proven it can deliver some of the finest and most intense action on broadcast television”.
Time can only tell what will come of the Bellator FC in a world where the UFC controls most of the MMA market but if they can match the intensity, action and excitement they brought in their first season there could be no limits to its success.