Author Ryan MacDonald (Contributor)

Just hours before making his promotional debut at Bellator 109, Keith Bell sat down with MMAValor.com to discuss his bout with the undefeated Bulgarian Blagoi Ivanov. The heavyweight bout will be part of the Bellator 109 preliminary card which will stream live on Spike.com beginning at 4pm PT / 7pm ET.

Lots of MMA action took place on free TV this weekend but one that did not have that luxury was the CFFC 28 event from the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The event was headlined by former UFC welterweight Charlie Brenneman looking to continue to reinvent himself at lightweight and more importantly, capture the CFFC lightweight title.

There is a new player tossing their name in the hat of the ever-growing ranks of professional MMA promotions in the state of Virginia. The Richmond Rumble will be making their promotional debut on Saturday, September 28th, at the Richmond Coliseum, in Richmond, VA.

As I spend more and more time around the sport of mixed martial arts, I am coming to the realization that it’s not about the toughest guys fighting the toughest guys, in order to get to the top. Sometimes it’s tough guys fighting not so tough guys, in order to pad a fight record. Other times, it’s not so tough guys avoiding every tough guy out there, in order to do the same thing, get that record looking spotless. However, the Main Event fight at XFE 24, this Saturday, is neither of those cases. Terrell Hobbs (7-5) vs. Scott Heckman (15-3) is a matchup of TWO tough guys, each of whom have a legitimate shot at a UFC career.

Most MMA events have a tagline associated with their event. They are usually something cool and catchy that will let fans know what the fight card is all about. Spartan Promotions did not have an official tagline for their fourth show, on December 1st, but a fitting name could have been Battle of the Spartans IV: Changes.

We all remember that new kid in school, you know the one that transfers in and after a short time they’ve made friends with all the cool people and also made cool people out of kids you may have overlooked.

The second installment of Spartan Promotions’, Battle of the Spartans II, occurred last night, June 23rd, in Ruther Glen, VA. The all-amateur promotion was held at the Virginia Sports Complex, in front of a hot but ready crowd of VA fight fans. In a week that saw temperatures soar into the mid to upper 90’s, the lack of air conditioning at the venue didn’t stop area fight fans from coming out to see the promotion’s sophomore event.

As Summer is a mere two days old, the heat that has already enveloped the East Coast was matched by the hard-hitting action as Bellator premiered it’s Summer Series, tonight, in Chester, WV. Bellator 71 featured the beginning of its Light Heavyweight tournament, highlighted by Travis Wiuff, who many claim as the REAL Bellator Light Heavyweight Champ.