Immediately after the post-fight presser for Bellator 63 in Uncasville, Connecticut, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney confirmed that the promotion’s next women’s tournament would be held in the 125 pound division and that several of the ladies competing have already been decided on.
“I think that’s where the next one is going to be,” “Jessica Aguilar is looking to fight at 125. We already spoke to [Megumi Fujii] and she wants to do it…. Lisa Ellis-Ward is another one we’ll have to see about. If you look at her performance in her last fight with Jessica Aguilar, she looked really good in a loss against one of the better women out there.”
Among the women Rebney mentioned were being considered for the tournament was young up and comer Jessica Eye, who will face Aisling Daly at Bellator 66 at the end of the month. Presumably, the winner of that bout will be among the women to enter the bracket.
While the weight division for the tournament is confirmed and the major players are already being lined up, exactly when the next big women’s tournament will take place is still up in the air. There are currently several factors at play that influence the timing of the single-elimination tourney, not the least of which being the impending changeover from Bellator’s current broadcasting home at MTV-2 to other VIACOM owned channel Spike TV.
Read more about the women of 125 pounds and a potential Spike debut after the jump.
Bellator’s first season on Spike, scheduled for early 2013, was among the possible dates Rebney cited for the 125 pound female tournament debut. However, as attractive a first impression as such a debut would be, especially with the recent overall boost women’s MMA has gotten in the public image, the date itself is far from confirmed.
“[The tournament] is coming, it’s just a matter of where it will find itself,” said Rebney.
The state of the current and only female Bellator title holder, Zoila Gurgel, may also be a contributing factor to the timing of the tournament. A series of unfortunate events, culminating in a serious knee injury she sustained in October, has kept Gurgel inactive since her first and only fight for the organization after claiming the belt. The mere mention of Gurgel’s layup was enough to prompt a mournful sigh from the Bellator CEO. While Rebney did not discuss the champion sitting on the shelf any further, it has been Bellator practice in the past to know the state of its title holders before starting the next tournament bracket in that division.
A local undercard athlete by the name of Munah Holland made her first appearance as a Bellator 125 pound fighter that same night, scoring a brutal comeback knockout in the second round against Marianna Kheyfets. While a tournament spot would typically be reserved for more well-known ladies such as Ellis-Ward, Fujii, and Aguilar, with some space still open Holland has not yet been eliminated as a possibility.
