Bellator

(Toby Imada's infamous flying inverse triangle choke of Jorge Masvidal at Bellator 5.)

Bellator MMA make a dramatic arrival earlier this year with a weekly ESPN Deportes series and a memorable string of viral videos on YouTube. But the league lost some momentum during the long negotiations for a new broadcast partner, and its fighters have struggled to find work. The good news is, the wait was worth it. This morning, Bellator announced an unprecedented three-part network deal that will put their product in over 100 million homes.

Bellator's second season will launch April 8th, 2010, with 12 weekly live events that will air Thursday nights on FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates (reach: 82 million homes). Every subsequent Saturday night, a 30-minute highlight show will be broadcast on NBC (112 million homes), and an hour-long package will air on Telemundo (62 million homes). The deal also includes a third 12-week season that is slated to begin on August 12th. Both seasons are expected to follow the multi-tournament format established in Bellator's first season, which crowned Joe Soto, Eddie Alvarez, Lyman Good and Hector Lombard the promotion's champions.

(Props: youtube.com/BellatorMMA)

Bellator's inaugural season came to a close on Friday night, with the finals of their middleweight and lightweight brackets. In the 185-pound title fight, Hector Lombard used his striking and ground-and-pound to open up some nasty cuts on the head of his opponent, Jared Hess; the fight was eventually stopped in the fourth round after Hess lost a few gallons of blood. Directly after, 155-pound favorite Eddie Alvarez completed his sweep of the lightweight tourney by knocking Toby Imada out of his jock with a big right hook early in the second round, then sinking in a rear-naked choke. Lombard and Alvarez collected $100,000 checks for their efforts.

In non-tournament action, Jorge Masvidal submitted Eric Reynolds via third-round rear-naked choke, Bodog/ShoXC vet Rosi Sexton submitted Valerie Coolbaugh via first-round armbar, and Stephanie Guimaraes became Bellator's latest YouTube star with her 49-second knee-knockout of Yvonne Reis. The Guimaraes knockout is above; highlights from the Lombard/Hess and Alvarez/Imada fights are after the jump.

Brutal Flying Knee KO at Bellator XI - Watch more Funny Videos

Lyman Good became Bellator's first welterweight champion on Friday night, scoring a quick TKO victory over Omar De La Cruz at Bellator XI in Uncasille, Connecticut. The Tiger Schulmann MMA product needed just 1:23 to take De La Cruz down and slug his way to a referee stoppage, collecting a $100,000 check in the process.

But the event's real star was Good's rookie teammate Nick Pace, who KTFO'd Collin Tebo with a flying knee to the jaw, then knocked his mouthpiece out with a follow-up right hand; the video is above. Not sure how we feel about his weird hip-grinding at the end, but Pace could be a fighter to watch. Full results from the card are here. Video of the Good/De La Cruz stoppage is after the jump.

(Garijo vs. Awad. Props: YouTube.com/BellatorMMA)

Swallowed up in the Strikeforce/WEC hype this weekend was Friday's Bellator show, which was headlined by the finals of their featherweight tournament. Joe Soto, who had already run through Ben Greer and Wilson Reis to make it to the finals, completely dominated Yahir Reyes, beating him up with heavy ground-and-pound in the first round, then doing it some more in the second before sinking in a rear-naked choke. Soto earned $100,000 for the win, bringing his tournament total up to $175,000. Even more memorable than Soto's win was the dogfight between Diego Garijo and Saad Awad, in which Garijo got rocked repeatedly with punches but managed to survive and choke out Awad with 15 seconds left in round one.

Also on the card, WEC vet Bryan Baker won a unanimous decision over IFL/UFC vet Matt Horwich, and Wilson Reis snuck off with a split decision victory over Roberto Vargas. Full results from the event can be found here; Bellator heads to Uncasville, Connecticut this Friday for their welterweight finals. The Soto/Reyes beating is after the jump.

(Courtesy of YouTube.com/BellatorMMA)

Though Hector Lombard drew most of the attention at Friday's Bellator show, the night's best stoppage belonged to Chad Leonhardt — great name for a fighter, by the way — who scored a YouTube-worthy first-round KO over Daniel Keenan. Watch as Leonhardt crushes Keenan with an overhand right, then puts him to sleep with a mouthpiece-ejecting knee to the face. Thanks, Chad. Bellator's upcoming schedule is after the jump...