THE TORCH: THE #1 WORLDWIDE BRAND IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE - OVER 250 MILLION VIEWS & LISTENS PER YEAR REREACHING MORE FANS EVERY WEEK THAN ANY OTHER INDEPENDENT SOURCE • VIA THE WEB, MOBILE, PRINT NEWSLETTER, AND ITUNES
Dan Hornbuckle and Brad Blackburn are set to face off at Bellator 25, as Bellator officials confirmed the previously reported welterweight bout on Tuesday.
Bellator 25 will air on Fox Sports Net from the Chicago Theater on August 19, and this bout will take place as a special feature fight.
"Bad Brad is a really tough opponent and it's going to be a good start to my win-streak,” said Hornbuckle about his opponent. “Brad's skill sets are going to complement mine and I'll finally be able to unleash the The Handler's stand-up without any wrestling tackles involved.”
Blackburn, looking to bounce back after his release from the UFC earlier this year, sounds ready to go for this challenging fight.
"Hornbuckle is a top-level fighter with a great record. I’m excited to fight him, but I’m not scared of anyone’s striking in MMA,” he said. “I’ve been around for a long time, wherever this fight goes, I’ll be comfortable. If he wants to stand and bang, let’s do it."
"I’m thrilled that we are able to add another world class fight to an already stacked card,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney in today's release. “Dan Hornbuckle is as hungry and dangerous as ever before and the same can be said for “Bad” Brad Blackburn. As an MMA fan I cannot wait to see this fight.”
The FSN event will feature opening round bouts in the heavyweight division between Damian “The Polish Pitbull” Grabowski and Scott Barrett as well as Cole Konrad against Rogent Llorent. Also on the card will be a women's tournament bout between Zoila Frausto and Jessica Pene.
RELATED STORY: BELLATOR NEWS: Brad Blackburn to make Bellator debut against Dan Hornbuckle at Bellator 25: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.
"There's still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back, and sometimes fights are like that. Certainly they are. But sometimes you get technical masterpieces too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight - you're not really a fight fan...
Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...
"There was a lot of poison going on around there and I'm really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people's egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand, his AKA brand...
PART OF THE USA TODAY UFC GROUP