Once again, Bellator MMA will be moving to a new night and the organization will be going back to Friday night’s in the fall for the upcoming ninth season.
Spike TV President Kevin Kay confirmed the move with Loretta Hunt of Sports Illustrated.
Bellator officials confirmed to TheMMAReport.com that season nine of Bellator will begin on September 7th, which is a Saturday and will serve as the live finale for Fight Master.
Fight Master is the upcoming reality show for the organization and will debut next Wednesday night following Bellator 96 from Oklahoma.
After the September 7th card, Bellator will move to Friday nights and will air on Spike TV from 9 p.m. ET to 11 p.m. ET. A location or venue has not been announced for the September 7th or September 13th fight card. However,the organization had previously requested a date of September 12th with the California State Athletic Commission for the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula.
Bellator was previously on Friday nights during their time on MTV2 in 2012. The MMA Report’s Pete DiLorenzo recently did a story on Bellator ratings from that time period and compared them to what the UFC did on Friday nights on FX.
Obviously, Bellator will do better ratings on Friday nights on Spike TV than they did on MTV2. However, will they be able to get what the UFC got on FX? The answer to that question will be known later this year.