http://mmajunkie.com/news/18372/roger-h ... irings.mmaBellator Fighting Championships today unveiled the opening-round pairings for its season-two lightweight tournament, and blue-chip acquisition Roger Huerta (20-3-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC) meets undefeated Chad Hinton (6-0 MMA, 0-0 BFC) in his tourney opener.
That bout, as well as Janne Tulirinta (12-3 MMA, 0-0 BFC) vs. Carey Vanier (7-2 MMA, 0-0 BFC), take place on April 8 at Bellator 13 in Hollywood, Fla.
Meanwhile, Pat Curran (9-3 MMA, 0-0 BFC) takes on Mike Ricci (5-0 MMA, 0-0 BFC) at Chicago's Bellator 14 event on April 15, and season-one runner-up Toby Imada (20-13 MMA, 2-1 BFC) meets Ferrid Kheder (16-5 MMA, 0-0 BFC) at Connecticut's Bellator 15 event on April 22.
As with all of the Bellator events in its 12-week second season, the three shows air on FOX Sports Net with highlights packages running each subsequent weekend on NBC and Telemundo.
"As an MMA fan, I can't wait to see these fights," Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney stated. "There's been great buzz about our 155-pound division, and it's definitely warranted. This is a very well-rounded field, and each of these fighters is very dangerous."
The winner of the eight-man field earns a title shot against season-one winner and current Bellator lightweight champ, Eddie Alvarez, that's expected to come in season three later this year. A successful tournament run nets the winner $100,000 in pay.
While certainly a field of notables, the tournament really got a dose of starpower earlier this week when Bellator executives officially confirmed an MMAjunkie.com report from this past weekend: that Huerta, a former UFC fighter who had been negotiating with Strikeforce, had agreed to a deal with Bellator.
