· Bellator Season Five Bantamweight Tournament Locked And Loaded

The fifth season of Bellator is gearing up for a September 10 premiere on MTV2 and a stacked bantamweight tournament will be featured this season starting September 24. Current Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren is entering the field in an effort to hold two titles simultaneously. Joining Warren in the tournament are Alexis Vila who will face Warren in the quarterfinal opener. In other quarterfinal action Eduardo Dantas faces Alexis Vila, Ed West faces Luiz Nogueira, and Marcos Galvao steps in to face Chase Beebe.

Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney was quoted as saying the following regarding this fall's Bellator season: "To say our season five bantamweight tournament is stacked is a gross understatement. Warren-Vila is going to be absolutely explosive for as long as it lasts, and the inclusion of Dantas, Nogueira, Chase, Soto, Ed and Luis makes every single fight in this tournament a pick’em adventure. This should be an unbelievable tournament for our fans watching live on MTV2."

Bellator currently holds MTV2's highest rating in the male demographic age 18-49 in their history from 9 to 11 p.m.

Before Joe Warren can enter the cage to attempt a run at two titles at the same time, he has to defend his current featherweight title against Patricio Freire at Bellator 47 on July 23. Win or lose, his first bout in the bantamweight tournament is no small task as he fights undefeated Alexis Vila, an Olympic bronze medalist in wrestling for Cuba in 1996. Vila has a perfect 9-0 record with 8 wins by KO, TKO, or submission. Comparably, Warren has only lost one career bout, a submission loss to Bibiano Fernandes in 2009. Five of his wins are by decision.

In the second quarterfinal bout, Eduardo Dantas faces Joe Soto. Soto is no stranger to Warren as his most recent outing was for the featherweight title where he lost by technical knockout in round 2. It was the first loss of his career where he had previously rounded off nine straight wins with only one by decision. Before he enters the bout with Dantas, he faces Eddie Yagin for Tachi Palace Fights on August 5. Dantas comes in having won three straight and eight of his last nine. His three straight wins have all been finishes with no decisions.

In 2007, veteran fighter Ed West was staring at a three fight losing streak. After taking five months between fights, West stepped into the cage to face Nick Hedrick in July 2007. It would be the first in a series of seven straight wins and eight of nine. During that stretch, West earned five submission wins. He faces Luiz Nogueira in the quarterfinals of the season five tournament.

One of the early tournament highlights of season five will be Marcos Galvao squaring off with Chase Beebe. Galvao will be trying to bide his time and win his outings in an effort to get some payback against Joe Warren. Warren stopped Galvao's three-fight win streak at Bellator 41 in April. Galvao has won eight of his nine career fights by decision.

Beebe has also tasted defeat at Warren's hands when Warren took home a victory over Beebe in Dream in 2009 by doctor stoppage in their featherweight tournament. Beebe lost two more fights in a row after that loss before rebounding to win six of his next seven.