The Monroe Louisiana Ouachita Citizen

by Cody Futrell

Mike Braswell is not what many local sports fans think of when they think of athlete. Braswell is an athlete, however. He is a fighter in the caged world of mixed martial arts. A sport and a business that is growing by millions of dollars every year. Braswell spent the first 15 years of his life in Ferriday before moving to West Monroe with his family. Being home schooled, Braswell did not find many opportunities in his teen years to play athletics. About five years ago, Braswell fell in love with the growing phenomenon known simply as "MMA".

Braswell made his professional fighting debut on April 7, 2007 and has a record of 4-3 on the professional level. Braswell did all of this while completing his bachelor degree in excercise physiology at Louisiana Tech University recently.

"It has been a long road since 2007," Mike Braswell said. "I have gone through a lot of training and a bunch of fights. The first time I stepped into the cage I was thinking 'what am I doing'. This sport is not for everybody." MORE

Bellator Fight Week Schedule

May 11, 5 pm at Hooters of West Monroe

Bellator Fight Night at Hooters

Tickets will be given away. The Monroe Civic Center Box Office administrators will be there to sell tickets at a 2 for 1 price. Buy one ticket, get one free while they are available. Tickets will go to the regular price Thursday when the doors open.  T-shirts will be given away. Bjorn Rebney, CEO of Bellator Fighting Championships will be there, Kerry Daigle with Keeppunching Entertainment. Bellator shows will be shown on TVs all night….enjoy fight night at Hooters of West Monroe.

May 12, 1:30 pm to 5 pm, Monroe Civic Center

Press Conference and Weigh-in

Press conference, official weigh-in and more. Television producers, managers, world-class MMA fighters and agents from around the world in MMA from as far away as Brazil and Russia, Keeppunching Entertainment, promoter of hundreds of fights from around the world, Kerry Daigle, Bellator Fighting Championships CEO, Bjorn Rebney, who has worked with Sugar Ray Leonard And Oscar De La Hoya in the boxing world as his clients/partners, commissioners, Mayor Of Monroe James Mayo and his staff, and much, much more. Sponsored by Keeppunching Entertainment and Rendezvous Lounge and Dance in Monroe, LA.  Food will be served -- the public (fans) is invited to attend!!!  Promoters of other events -- please do not bring any promotional material. This will be tightly monitored.  This is designed for Bellator, Keeppunching, and the fans!!

May 13

Fight Night at Monroe Civic Center

Tickets will be at regular price at start of show. Doors will open at 5 pm instead of 6 pm due to overwhelming response. Fights start at 6 pm.

May 13

Fight Night After Party

After the fight the post fight party will be at the newly remodeled Rendezvous (2003 Tower Drive in Monroe, Louisiana).

Most of the fighters, managers, trainers, agents, promoters and more from Keeppunching Entertainment and Bellator Fighting Championships will be there. 

Two of the world’s top middleweight fighters
square off at Monroe Civic Center May 13th

CHICAGO, Ill.— Two of world’s top middleweight mixed martial arts fighters will travel to Northern Louisiana next month for a nationally televised Super Fight at the May 16^th Bellator Fighting Championships show at the Monroe Civic Center.

The Super Fight—which will be broadcast nationwide on FOX Sports Net, NBC, Telemundo and mun2—will pit reigning Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard against former WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho, who, as recently as 2009, was the consensus No. 2-ranked middleweight in the world.

Lombard, a former Cuban national judo champion and member of the 2000 Cuban Olympic judo team, became the first ever Bellator Middleweight World Champion in June 2009.

Lombard (25-2) made his U.S. fighting debut when the inaugural season of Bellator began in April 2009. In the first round of the middleweight tournament Lombard delivered a TKO to Virgil Lozano, capitalizing on a misstep by his opponent just 1:10 into the first round. Lozano was dropped instantly as Lombard made his dominant presence known. MORE

Bellator Fighting Championships now airing on FOX Sports Southwest, NBC, Telemundo and mun2 in Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas

Sports fans in Northern Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas looking for a sneak preview of the upcoming Bellator Fighting Championships event at the Monroe (La.) Civic Center on May 13^th can tune in to FOX Sports Southwest on each of the next four Thursday nights.

The network will air four LIVE Bellator events from Chicago, Connecticut, Kansas City and Boston over the next four Thursday nights beginning at 7 p.m. CT. In addition, special action-packed Bellator highlight shows can be seen every Saturday night on NBC, Telemundo and mun2.

The May 13^th Bellator event in Monroe will also be broadcast on all three networks, reaching an available universe of 300 million homes across the U.S. every week. MORE

Press Conference Alert
1:30pm, Friday, April 9, 2010 at Monroe City Hall,
400 Lee Joyner Expressway

Bellator Fighting Championships returns to Monroe for Bellator 18 on May 13.

Mayor Jamie Mayo and the Monroe City Council are pleased to announce a formal press conference will be held 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 9th to announce the Monroe Civic Center in Monroe, La., will play host to Bellator Fighting Championships again this spring when the promotion returns to Northern Louisiana for Bellator 18 on May 13. Tickets for the event went on sale Thursday, April 1 at Ticketmaster.com and at the Monroe Civic Center box office. This year's battle will be televised LIVE on Fox Sports Net, and replayed on NBC and Telemundo -- reaching over 256 million viewers. Previews of the tournament are airing now on Fox Sports Network.

“We are thrilled to be returning to Monroe for our May 13 event,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “The Monroe Civic Center, the City of Monroe, Mayor Mayo and Keeppunching Entertainment were tremendous partners for us in Season 1 and we’re looking forward to putting on another exceptional show to a packed house in one of the loudest, most exciting venues we visited last year." << MORE >>

Bellator Fighting Championships CEO Bjorn Rebney Excited to Return to Northern Louisiana’s Monroe Civic Center for NBC, FOX Sports Net event

When Bellator Fighting Championships announced in October that its second season would be broadcast to hundreds of millions of homes nationwide on FOX Sports Net, NBC and Telemundo, Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney was quickly approached with opportunities to bring events to major markets throughout the U.S., including Boston, Chicago, Kansas City and Miami.

But Rebney, a 20-year veteran of the fighting sports industry, had his mind set on a large-scale return to the Monroe Civic Center in Northern Louisiana.

During Bellator’s highly successful first season, Bellator hosted one of its most well-received events at the Civic Center, drawing a near sell-out crowd to watch top fighters including eventual World Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard, featherweight Shad Lierley and middleweight Jared Hess.

<< MORE >>

Bellator Fighting Championships returns to Monroe, LA., for Bellator 18 on May 13

CHICAGO — The Monroe Civic Center in Monroe, La., will play host to Bellator Fighting Championships again this spring when the promotion returns to Northern Louisiana for Bellator 18 on May 13th.

Tickets for the event go on sale Thursday, April 1st at Ticketmaster.com and at the Monroe Civic Center box office.

“We are thrilled to be returning to Monroe for our May 13th event,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “The Monroe Civic Center, the City of Monroe, Mayor Mayo and Keep Punching Entertainment were tremendous partners for us in Season 1 and we’re looking forward to putting on another exceptional show to a packed house in one of the loudest, most exciting venues we visited last year.”

The Main Event for the May 13th Monroe show will be a “Super Fight” matchup between reigning Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard and 19-1 former WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho who, as recently as 14 months ago, was the No. 2-ranked middleweight in the world.