Pat Curran will get to fight for the Bellator featherweight title fairly close to Team Curran’s Crystal Lake location.  Curran will take on current Bellator Featherweight Champion “The Baddest Man on the Planet” Joe Warren at The Venue at The Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana on Friday, March 9. Tickets for this event go on sale at 10 a.m. CT on Friday, January 20 and are available at The Horseshoe Casino, Ticketmaster, www.thevenue-chicago.com, or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

The event will broadcast starting at 7 p.m. CT on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. CT, with the first fight scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. The preliminary card will be streamed LIVE and FREE around the world on Spike.com starting at 6 p.m. CT.

“Everything is falling into place right now,” Curran said. “My hometown is really close to where I’m fighting and I know I’ll have the support of my family and friends. This is something that is meant to be.”

Even though Curran admits he will have the “home-cage advantage” on March 9, the 24-year-old Crystal Lake native knows the challenge that is right in front of him.

“Even though he’s coming off a loss, he’s a very dangerous opponent,” Curran said of Warren. “He is a very strong wrestler who’s going to try to close the distance and work the clinch against me. I’m looking forward to a great fight.”

After a one-fight stint at Bantamweight, Joe Warren is back defending his Bellator Featherweight championship. Winner of his last five Featherweight fights, the 35-year-old Denver product has the experience and the cage savvy to bust up Curran’s homecoming party.

“The Midwest is known for great fighters and great fight fans,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “To be hosting an event of this magnitude in our backyard is like Christmas morning; plus you get to see Chicagoland’s own, rising superstar Pat Curran vie for the World Title against one of the toughest fighters in all of MMA – Joe Warren. As a diehard MMA fan, I can’t wait for March 9^th to get here at Horseshoe.”

Also on this big night in Hammond, the Season 6 Featherweight Tournament kicks off as Season 5 finalist Marlon Sandro  takes on Roberto Vargas. A member of the renowned Team Nova Uniao, the 19-3 Sandro is widely regarded as one of the top featherweights in the world. With seven of his 19 wins coming via KO/TKO and three by submission, don’t blink when the dangerous Brazilian enters the Bellator cage. A former wrestler at Cal-State Bakersfield, Vargas has used his wrestling pedigree and parlayed that success into a 12-1 mixed martial arts record with three knockouts and four submissions.

Born in Thailand and raised in England, the UK’s best featherweight Ronnie Mann has the talent and drive to make a deep run in this season’s tournament. A tenacious standup fighter with 10 submission victories on his record, the 20-4 fighter has possibly his toughest test to date when he takes on dangerous veteran Wagnney Fabiano. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and former WEC fighter holds an impressive 14-3 record and adds another true contender to this season’s featherweight tournament.

Top featherweight prospect Alexandre “PoPo” Bezerra enters his first Bellator tournament and will face stiff competition in his quarterfinal matchup as the 12-1 submission ace battles fellow Brazilian Genair da Silva. “Junior PDQ” is coming off an impressive victory at Bellator 52, and will be looking to carry that momentum into the tournament on March 9

XFO veteran Daniel Straus returns to the Bellator cage after nearly a year. Straus made a dominant run through the Season 4 Featherweight Tournament, only being stopped by eventual tournament Champion Patricio Pitbull in the finals. When the Ohio native steps into the cage on March 9, it will be against the undefeated Jeremy Spoon, who brings a spotless 12-0 record to the cage, including eight submission victories.

Bellator will open their sixth season on Friday, March 2nd from a soon to be announced location. The premiere will mark the first time Bellator has aired on Friday nights. Hopefully the promotion will return to Chicago for season 6.

“Our focus was to find the right night, where the largest number of MMA fans could enjoy the show,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “We’ve been discussing this move with our partners at Viacom for months. When we looked at the alternatives, we agreed that Fridays provided a great night for us to reach MMA fans with our live, real sport, tournament events every week.”

Bellator’s Season 6 will feature five tournaments, each loaded with world-class talent from across the globe as well the potential for six World Title fights.

In arguably the deepest division within Bellator, eight featherweights will go to battle looking to earn their right to challenge for the belt.

The lightweights are back, and will be gunning for newly crowned Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler after his bloody war with Eddie Alvarez. Watch the entire Chandler/Alvarez fight right here.

Fresh off a welterweight tournament that saw Douglas Lima punch his ticket to a guaranteed title shot against reigning Bellator Welterweight Champion Ben Askren, eight 170 pounders will compete to earn their title shot against the winner of this tremendous world title fight, and Middleweights collide as the promotion searches for a challenger to take on the winner of Lombard vs. Shlemenko II for the Bellator Middleweight Title.

Bellator Season Five Tournament winner Alexander “Storm” Shlemenko will battle Lombard during Season 6 in a rematch of their third season showdown where Lombard successfully defended his title with a unanimous decision victory.

Bellator has always been known for rare submissions and spectacular finishes. But in Saturday night’s lightweight title bout between Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler, they had the most memorable war in the fight promotion’s history.

It’s a back and forth battle that simply has to be seen to be believed. There aren’t words to express or explain the determination and heart in these two warriors.

Here is the full fight between Alvarez and Chandler, certainly among the finalists for ‘Fight of the Year’.

Ben Saunders had been undefeated in his Bellator fights heading into his match with Douglas “The Phenom” Lima. Then this happened:

“I knew it was there. We worked on that a lot last week; duck the left hook, come back with the right straight. It worked out great,” Lima said. “I’m glad I got the win. It was hard but it paid off. Hats off to Ben. He’s the greatest guy. He’s a great fighter.”

Joe Warren just got some bad news. With the injury to Patricky Pitbull, Warren will get Team Curran’s Pat “Paddy Mike” Curran in his place. Here’s the story from Bellator.

After a tournament run that included dominating victories over a trio of top competitors, Bellator Summer Series Featherweight Tournament Winner Pat Curran rightly earned his title shot and will take on reigning Featherweight Champion and self-proclaimed “Baddest Man on The Planet” Joe Warren early in 2012 LIVE on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX.

Originally, Patricio Pitbull was scheduled to face Joe Warren, as the explosive Brazilian secured his title shot with a Season 4 Featherweight Tournament win. But Pitbull suffered a hand injury, and just recently elected for surgery that will keep him out of the gym for 3 months. With the delay, Curran’s title shot has been moved up. Once healed, Pitbull will face the winner of the Curran-Warren Championship fight.

“The timing worked out here,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “To be able to temporarily lose a fighter such as Patricio Pitbull and then to be able to plug in another deserving title contender, Tournament winner and top five Featherweight in Pat Curran is a testament to the depth of our featherweight division.”

For Curran, the Crystal Lake, Illinois native and Season 2 Lightweight Tournament Winner enters the title fight looking to keep his tournament momentum intact. After an impressive Peruvian necktie submission victory over Luis Palomino in the quarterfinals, Curran collected a unanimous decision win over Ronnie Mann. With the victory, Curran secured a spot in the Featherweight Finals against Marlon Sandro, widely regarded as one of the Top 5 featherweights in the world. Curran pushed the pace early, and in the second round delivered a devastating, highlight-reel roundhouse kick to the head of Sandro that left the Brazilian down and out. (Watch Here: http://bit.ly/qKvQ5m). Curran was awarded the knockout victory, but more importantly a guaranteed world title shot.

“This is going to be a great fight,” Curran said. “. I know I have a size advantage going in, but the pace is always high with Joe, and is obviously a great wrestler, so I’m expecting the best out of him.”

Warren enters the fight in unfamiliar territory as the Team Quest product is coming off his first career Bellator defeat as former Cuban Olympian Alexis Vila took Warren down in the quarterfinals of the Bellator Bantamweight Tournament. That fight is in the past, and the reigning Featherweight Champion is ready to get back into the Bellator cage.

“Everyone knows I’m a world champ at featherweight,” Warren said.”I’m defending my belt, so there is a lot a pride on the line. I thought I was the best bantamweight in that tournament, but I got caught with a shot. I’m excited to show Pat what it means to be in a war.”

It’s yet another “Killer Finish” from Bellator Fighting Championships, as Vitor Vianna KOs Bryan Baker to earn his spot in the Bellator middleweight tourney finals.

In the night’s main event, Alvarez brings a near perfect record into the fight. The Philadelphia native sports an incredible 22-2 professional record, with Bellator tournament wins over Greg Loughran, Eric Reynolds and Toby Imada during his Season 1 Lightweight Tournament Championship run. This won’t be Alvarez’s first title defense, as he successfully defended his title against current Featherweight Tournament finalist Pat Curran at Bellator 39. The two engaged in a five-round battle that eventually ended with Alvarez securing a unanimous decision victory.

After a spectacular run through the Bellator Season 4 Lightweight Tournament that included victories over Polish prodigy Marcin Held, submission specialist Lloyd Woodard and explosive Brazilian Patricky Pitbull, the undefeated Chandler is ready for the challenge Alvarez will bring.

While the heavy-handed Hector Lombard watches the Season 5 Middleweight Tournament with a close eye, his focus will shift to former UFC veteran Trevor Prangley, as the Cuban-born middleweight champion will battle near his Florida residence in a non-title affair.

For the second week in a row, Bellator will host a women’s feature fight as long time Bellator veteran and fan favorite Jessica “Jag” Aguilar will battle Lisa Ward, who will be looking to move to 2-0 against Aguilar with a victory at Bellator 58.

The night will also host the return of a few fan favorites as Top 10 ranked featherweight Marlon Sandro is back with Bellator after a Summer Series Featherweight Tournament Finals appearance. The impressive Brazilian takes on submission ace Rafael “The Law’ Dias in a 145-pound feature fight.

Douglas Lima is an exciting striker, as demonstrated here in his fight against Chris Lozano at Bellator 53.

Lima moves on to the finals of the tourney to take on Ben “Killa B” Saunders, who put on a BJJ clinic against Luis Santos.

Eduardo Dantas advances to the next round of the Bellator bantamweight tournament with this “Killer Finish” of Wilson Reis at Bellator 51.