In August of 2011, Pulse introduced you to an amazing form of mixed martial arts (“Bellator ~ Where Title Shots Are Earned, Not Given,” www.thepulsemag.com/wordpress/2011/08/0811-bellator-where-title-shots-are-earned-not-given) that was just beginning to really explode on the MMA scene: Bellator. Well, not even one year later, the Bellator Fighting Championships have become absolutely huge…no, make that HUGE ~ and we’re lucky enough to be heading to Mohegan Sun Arena on March 30 for Bellator 63: The Assassin vs. Psycho, featuring the quarterfinals of the Bellator Season 6 Welterweight Tournament along with a host of preliminary fights from some of East Coast’s best talent in the sport.

The event will broadcast live starting at 8 p.m. EST on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the first fight is scheduled for 7 p.m. The preliminary card, featuring the area’s top local talent, will be streamed live and free around the world on Spike.com starting at 7 p.m. So however you decide to tune in, make sure you do…Bellator matches are riveting, edge-of-your-seat competition ~ and the more fights you watch, the more you realize just how much skill is involved in the sport.

Bellator 63 will be highlighted by Karl “Psycho” Amoussou (@KarlAmoussou) and Chris “The Cleveland Assassin” Lozano as the two vie for a spot in the welterweight semifinals. The French Amoussou is known for his tenacious style and determination to finish every fight, a combination that led to 11 finishes in his 13 career wins. Lozano is looking for another shot at the Bellator title after coming up short last year against eventual tournament winner Douglas Lima. While Lozano should be a familiar name to Bellator fans since competing in the previous two welterweight tournaments, the evolution he’s made over the last half year should make “The Cleveland Assassin” one of the most dangerous fighters inside the Bellator cage.

Lozano explains, “After the last tournament, I knew I needed to grow, so I decided to make the move to Greg Jackson’s. Over the last months, I have just elevated my game by leaps and bounds. Every day I’m surrounded by some of the best fighters in the world, and it has made me a better fighter. It’s controlled chaos. I’ve really gotten back to some of the things that made me so dangerous, and I can’t wait to show off all the training and hard work this March.”

Amoussou assures, “I don’t care who I fight in the upcoming Bellator Welterweight Tournament. I’m going to rock the Bellator welterweight division and destroy every fighter that stands in front of me. I don’t care where you train or who you are, if you are in my way to the belt, I feel sorry for you.”

Former Bellator Welterweight finalist Ben Saunders (@BenSaundersMMA) returns to take on Bellator newcomer Raul Amaya in quarterfinal action. Saunders tore through the Bellator Season 5 Welterweight tournament with a TKO victory over Chris Cisneros and a submission victory of Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Luis “Sapo” Santos, but fell short against tournament winner Douglas Lima in the finals; now he is poised to make another bid for the title. Amaya enters the tournament with a spotless 9-0 record and will be looking to stay perfect on his way to the finals.

Brian Foster (@BrianFoster170) enters the tournament riding a four-fight win streak, including two victories with the UFC. A true finisher in every sense of the word, he is already making big plans for his Bellator career.

“I’m getting that belt,” says Foster. “I want to fight the best. I want to fight Ben Askren and take home that belt.” Standing between Foster and that coveted belt will be David Rickels (@TheCaveman316), who holds an impressive 3-0 record inside the Bellator cage.

Long time Bellator veteran Bryan “The Beast” Baker (@bryanbeastbaker) is making the drop to welterweight and will try his hand at 170 lbs. when he battles Carlos “Indio” Pereira. Fighting almost exclusively out of Brazil, Pereira brings a wealth of experience to the cage and should be a force to be reckoned with in a loaded welterweight tournament.
Originally slated for a tournament spot, “War Machine” Jon Koppenhaver was replaced by Lozano after the troubled welterweight encountered legal issues that prevented him from entering the tournament.

About the venue, Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney says, “Mohegan Sun has been a second home to us throughout this company’s history, so I’m thrilled to be returning on March 30. Top to bottom, this is one of the deepest welterweight fields we’ve ever assembled. This tournament is stacked with experienced fighters that are still in their primes, so we should be in for a great night of fights.”

Tickets ~ priced from $30-$70 ~ are now available through Ticketmaster.com or at the Mohegan Sun box office.

For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA, follow Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney @BjornRebney and check out Bellator on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Bellator…

Hope to see you March 30 for Bellator 63…but if you can’t make it, be sure to check out “HOT SHOTS” in April for live pix of the event!

About Bellator Fighting Championships
Bellator Fighting Championships is a Mixed Martial Arts promotional company headquartered in Chicago. Bellator, Latin for Warrior, is partnered with entertainment industry leaders Viacom and Fremantle Entertainment, and is the world’s leading tournament-based mixed martial arts organization. Bellator’s Founder, Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and entertainment professional with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes. Bellator Fighting Championships’ executive team is comprised of top industry professionals in the areas of live event production, television production, fighter relations, venue procurement, sponsorship creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising, publicity and commission relations.

Photo (top): Chris Lozano
Photo (bottom): Karl Ammoussou
Photos courtesy of www.bellator.com ~ special thanks to Anthony Mazzuca