Bellator Fighting Championships may have recently relocated its corporate headquarters to California from Chicago, but the promotion hasn't bailed on the area altogether.
Bellator will return to Hammond in December for the season finale of its seventh season. Bellator 84 will take place Dec. 14 at The Venue at Horseshoe Casino and will feature a pair of $100,000 tournament finals.
The event will be Bellator's third at The Venue and second during its current 12-card season. In March, Bellator 60 opened the tournament-based promotion's fifth season with a featherweight title fight. Earlier this month, Bellator 75 featured four opening-round fights in the Season 7 heavyweight tournament.
Bellator 84 will feature the finals for the heavyweight tourney that started in Hammond, plus the tournament championship in the featherweight division. Each of those winners will receive $100,000 in tournament prize money, plus a future title shot.
In addition to those two fights, the event is set to include a women's bout between the Chicago area's Felice Herrig and Las Vegas-based Michelle Guitierrez, her former teammate. The two fought in 2009 with Herrig picking up a submission victory. Herrig has competed for both Bellator as well as Hoosier Fight Club.
"We've had great success and explosive fights at Horseshoe Casino, and I expect nothing less," Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said. "Our fans in Hammond are going to see two competitors walk away with checks for $100,000, and the chance to fight for a Bellator world championship on Spike early next year."
Bellator 84's main card will air live on MTV2, but in January, the promotion moves its television deal from that cable network to the more prominent Spike TV.
Tickets for Bellator 84 are on sale at The Venue box office as well as through Ticketmaster. Additional fights for the event will be announced in the coming weeks and are likely to include region fighters as part of the preliminary card.
Wineland books next UFC fight: Eddie Wineland, of Westville, will return in December as part of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's blockbuster year-end card.
UFC 155, which will take place Dec. 29 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, will feature a bantamweight fight between Wineland (19-8-1, 1-2 UFC) and hard-hitting British fighter Brad Pickett (22-6, 2-1 UFC).
Wineland, a former 135-pound champion in the WEC, got back in the win column in June with a Fight of the Night knockout win over Scott Jorgensen in Florida. That win earned Wineland $40,000 in bonus money and snapped a two-fight skid in the UFC.
Pickett is coming off a major knockout of his own when he stopped Yves Jabouin in September in his native England. Pickett's lone setback in four fights came to interim titleholder Renan Barao.
The Wineland-Pickett fight is expected to be part of the preliminary card at UFC 155 with a likely live broadcast on FX, though it may be elevated to the pay-per-view main card.
Elkins returns at UFC 154 in Montreal: Darren Elkins, now 3-0 as a UFC featherweight, will return next month with a fight against fellow streaking 145-pound Steven Siler at UFC 154 in Montreal.
Elkins (14-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) and Siler (21-9 MMA, 3-0 UFC) will fight on the preliminary card of the pay-per-view, which will take place Nov. 17 at Montreal's Bell Centre. Elkins-Siler is slated to be part of a live stream on the UFC's Facebook page, though there has been fan support on social media for the UFC to elevate the bout to the FX televised portion of the show.
Elkins, a state champion wrestler at Portage who now is based at Duneland Vale Tudo in Hobart, in May upset "The Ultimate Fighter" winner Diego Brandao for his third consecutive win since dropping from lightweight to featherweight.
Tickets on sale for next Hoosier Fight Club show: Hoosier Fight Club will return next month with HFC 13. The show will take place Nov. 10 at the Porter County Expo Center in Valparaiso and features a main event between Bellator veteran Josh Shockley, fighting out of Duneland Vale Tudo, and Mike Cannon, who recently returned to the sport after a layoff of more than four years.
Also on the card, recent "Ultimate Fighter" hopeful Kevin Nowaczyk returns to face Darryl Madison. The event is set to include four amateur fights and eight professional bouts.
Tickets are available at L.A. Boxing in Merrillville and by calling (219) 309-1861.
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