By Josh Cook
Sure there have been fights at Fourth Street Live! before, but none like there will be Thursday night.
That's because tonight it will be the professionals, not the drunk 'Jersey Shore' wannabes who have had one too many Jager bombs on a Friday or Saturday night.
The Bellator Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts organization, will take over the Fourth Street entertainment district in downtown Louisville for the final event of its second season.
Bellator XXIII will get underway at 6 p.m. with doors opening at 5 p.m. There are still tickets available. They are $25 for upper and lower level seats, which are general admission, and $100 for an east ring side seat.
Sixteen competitors, as well as Bellator founder, and CEO, Bjorn Rebney will take part in the event. The featured matches on the main card include Bryan "The Beast" Baker (13-1), who has a seven-fight win streak, against Alexander "Storm" Shlemenko (29-4) in the Middleweight Tournament Championship. The winner be be the No. 1 contender to face middleweight champ Hector Lombard (25-2-1) in a title fight later this year.
Another big bout pits Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Patricio Pitbull (14-0) against former NCAA All-American wrestler Joe Warren (4-1) in the Featherweight Tournament Championship. The rest of the main card and undercard are below.
The event, which will be shown live on Fox Sports Net, is the final of Bellator's 12-week season that has included events in Boston, Chicago, Miami, Kansas City, Dallas and San Antonio.
Bellator's Season 3 is set to begin Aug. 12 in Hollywood, Fla.
MAIN CARD
Featherweight Tournament Championship: Patricio Pitbull (14-0) vs. Joe Warren (4-1)
Middlweight Tournament Championship: Alexander Shlemenko (29-4) vs. Bryan Baker (10-1)
Bantamweight Showcase Fight: Nik Mamalis (9-4) vs. Albert Rios (12-4)
Female Showcase Fight: Zolla Frausto (4-1) vs. Rosi Sexton (9-1
UNDERCARD
Local Main Event: John Troyer (10-4) vs. Brent Weedman (14-5)
Local Feature Fight #3: Daniel Straus (10-2) vs. Chad Hinton (6-1)
Local Feature Fight #2: Stoney Hale (3-1) vs. Mike Fleniken (2-1
Local Feature Fight #1: David Overfield (6-1) vs. Kurt Kinser (2-0)
