The Bellator light heavyweight title unification bout between Atilla Vegh and Emanuel Newton has a date as the title fight will headline Bellator 113 on March 21st.
Bellator officially announced the fight card on Thursday and the event will come from the Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kansas.
The event will broadcast live starting at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. CT on Spike TV. The preliminary card will be streamed live and free exclusively on Spike.com starting at 6 p.m. CT.
Tickets for the event are on sale Friday and can be purchased at www.kansasstararena.com or by visiting the Kanas Star Arena Box Office.
Vegh (29-4-2) entered Bellator in 2012 and already holds a win over Newton, which took place in the semifinals of the 2012 Summer Series tournament. After winning the tournament, he defeated Christian M’Pumbu at Bellator 91 to win the Bellator title.
“I’m ready to get back into the cage, and defend my belt,” Vegh said. “Even though I won my last fight with Emanuel, I wasn’t happy with my performance in my last fight against Emanuel Newton. I was ready but things just didn’t go the way I planned. We are both different fighters since then, and it’s going to be a great fight.”
Newton (22-7-1) has won four fights in a row since losing a close split decision to Vegh and won the interim light heavyweight title with a decision victory over Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal. It was his fifth win inside the Bellator cage and he has won ten of his last eleven fights.
“I’m ready for redemption,” Newton said. “I really wasn’t ready at the time in my career to be a champion. It wasn’t something physically, mentally, and spiritually I was prepared for. I’m a totally different fighter now, and this is my time. I’m training hard, continuing to grow, and this is it. Now is the time. I’ve got a new contract with Bellator, Bjorn and I are happy, I’m going to be here for a long time and I couldn’t be happier. This is my home, and I’m going to be Champion.”
Along with the unification title bout, the fight card will also feature all of the opening round bouts in the season ten lightweight tournament and the tournament bracket is below.
The current Bellator 113: Vegh vs. Newton II card is below.
Attila Vegh (29-4) vs. Emanuel Newton (22-7)
David Rickels (15-2) vs. Patricky Pitbull (11-5)
Marcin Held (16-3) vs. Rodrigo Cavalheiro (14-2)
Terry Etim (16-5) vs. Derek Anderson (10-0)
Brandon Girtz (10-3) vs. Derek Campos (13-3)