Bellator Begins Airing all Bellator Events in Russia Beginning September 28, 2012
Newport Beach, Cali. (July 31, 2012) – Already airing in over 80 countries
worldwide, Bellator Fighting Championships continues to expand its reach as the
promotion has partnered with Russian broadcasting giant Russia 2, for the largest
MMA broadcast alliance in Russian history. Beginning September 28th, Bellator will
be aired exclusively on Russia 2 throughout the country, introducing over 83 million
Russian sports fans to the largest tournament based MMA promotion in the world.
“Over the last year, as the Bellator brand has experienced enormous growth and our
talent team has signed the greatest Russian Mixed Martial Artists in the world, the
timing was perfect to align Bellator with Russia’s leading sports network.” said
Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney. “R2 carries the world’s greatest sports to
Russian viewers. So, aligning Bellator with this industry giant is another very
exciting step forward in the evolution of the Bellator brand worldwide.”
With headquarters in Moscow, Russia 2 reaches an audience of over 83 million
viewers, and offers a wide range of programing that includes the 2012 Summer Olympic
Games, EPL and UEFA Champions League Soccer, Formula One Class racing, KHL hockey,
and now Bellator Fighting Championships. Additionally, Bellator will air on R2’s new
Fight Club Channel, which will offer Russian subscribers the very best in combat
sports on a daily basis.
“Bellator is the world’s leading Tournament based MMA organization, featuring the
greatest Russian MMA fighters,” said Grigory Kovbasyuk, Executive Producer of R2.
“R2 leads the way in Russian sports broadcasts with the Olympic Games, World and
European Championships, Formula 1 Racing and many other top sports. We are very
excited to have partnered with Bellator to bring MMA’s most exciting competition to
over 83 Million Russian sports fans.”
Known as one of the most dangerous technical strikers in the sport, Alexander
“Storm” Shlemenko headlines an impressive list of Russian born fighters currently
under the Bellator banner. Additionally, elite Russian fighters such as Andrey
Koreshkov, Vitaly Minakov, Vyacheslav Vasilevsky, and undefeated lightweight
Alexander Sarnavskiy will all be looking to make big impressions inside the Bellator
cage in 2012 and 2013.
“It’s an absolute honor to now have Bellator airing in my home country of Russia,”
Shlemenko said. “I take a lot of pride in my family and friends being able to watch
my fights, and now everyone will be able to with this incredible partnership.”
Fremantle Entertainment, Bellator’s exclusive worldwide content distribution
partner, who has now secured strategic television alliances for Bellator in over 80
countries around the globe, will be orchestrating all aspects of the R2/Bellator
alliance.
For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on
Twitter @BellatorMMA, follow Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney @BjornRebney and
check out Bellator on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/Bellator
