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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Bellator's pay-per-view event now has it's full main card, along with a full preliminary card set for Spike TV.
Bellator officials on Friday night unveiled the remainder of the schedule for the May 17 card, which will emanate from just outside Memphis, Tenn.
The opening bout on the pay-per-view portion of the card pits the UK's Michael Page against Ricky Rainey. Page is a highly talented kickboxer who has made a successful transition to MMA, bringing a 5-0 record into this event. Rainey holds a 7-2 overall record, and made a successful Bellator debut earlier this month.
The night's preliminary card on Spike TV will feature four fights, including two tournament finals bouts for this tenth season.
Capping off the Spike TV broadcast is a heavyweight bout between Cheick Kongo and Eric Smith. Kongo looks to rebound from a loss to Vitaly Minakov earlier this month for Bellator's Heavyweight Championship.
The heavyweight finals for season ten also hit the Spike TV portion, as Blagoi Ivanov takes on Alexander Volkov. The lightweight tournament finals matchup, which was determined on Friday's card, pits Patricky "Pitbull" Freire against Marcin Held. Finally, the Spike TV portion will open with a featherweight bout between Mike Richman and Goiti Yamauchi.
The full schedule for the event is below:
Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler
Rampage Jackson vs. King Mo Lawal
Alexander Shlemenko vs. Tito Ortiz
Will Brooks vs. Nate Jolly
Rickey Rainey vs. Michael Page
Spike TV Prelims
Cheick Kongo vs. Eric Smith
Blagoi Ivanov vs. Alexander Volkov
Patricky Pitbull vs. Marcin Held
Goiti Yamauchi vs. Mike Richman
Penick's Analysis: For a Bellator card, this is a really nice night of fights. However, I'm not convinced people will pay $35-$45 (plus a $10 upcharge for HD) for the pay-per-view portion, despite what they've put together. While Alvarez-Chandler III is an excellent fight, and they've successfully gotten the "names" in Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz onto this card, I really have a hard time seeing this drawing real well sandwiched in between Floyd Mayweather's next fight and UFC 173. Now, they're in better shape against UFC 173 than they were before with Chris Weidman-Vitor Belfort no longer the headliner, and because some fans may not want to pay for Renan Barao vs. T.J. Dillashaw on top and Dan Henderson vs. Daniel Cormier as an expected co-main event, then this card could draw those dollars instead. That said, it's still an uphill battle here, and there's just no telling how this show will do at this point. If they can get in the 50,000-75,000 buy range, I think that will be a good night; beyond that would be highly successful given their lack of history in pay-per-view. Still, even hitting that 50K threshold for buys is questionable.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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