Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney (Photo by Henry S. Dziekan III/Getty Images)

Bellator Fighting Championships will make their 2013 debut on Spike TV on Thursday, Jan. 17, and the broadcast will feature two title fights, the company announced on Tuesday.

Lightweight champion Mike Chandler will defend his title against Season 6 tournament winner Rick Hawn, and Pat Curran will defend his featherweight belt against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire on the Spike TV debut. The event will take place at The University of California, Irvine’s Bren Center in Irvine, Calif.

The company also announced that their second broadcast will be Jan. 24, which will feature welterweight champion Ben Askren defending his title against Karl Amoussou. Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal will also be on the second event, but an opponent is yet to be determined. Lawal will have specials dedicated to him airing between the first and second Bellator broadcasts on the network.

Bellator will air events every Thursday for 12 straight weeks, officials said, and broadcasts will start at 10 p.m. ET. Viewers on the West Coast with a dish can watch the fights live at 7 p.m. PT, but cable subscribers will have to wait for a tape delay at 10 p.m. PT.

Five tournaments will take place during the upcoming season, including those in the 145-, 155-, 170-, 185- and 205-pound weight classes. Fighters such as Lawal, UFC veteran Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Seth Petruzelli will be in the 205-pound tournament, while Ben Saunders and Douglas Lima will be in the 170-pound bracket. Others will be added in the near future.

Bellator’s biggest competitor, the UFC, has long presented itself as a Pay-Per-View company. Bellator, however, has made their reputation through cable networks, most recently with MTV2 and next year with Spike — a network that used to host UFC Fight Night cards. When asked, company CEO Bjorn Rebney said there are no immediate plans for a Bellator Pay-Per-View.

Officials said the company is currently casting for its first fight-based reality show, but plans for its debut are still being worked out.

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Today, during the era of modern MMA and trainings with the aid of Youtube, locks from the waist down have diversified. Regarded as rude in the golden days of Jiu-Jitsu, now they are largely accepted and seen as a valuable skill in any champion’s game.

One evidence of this? Karl Amoussou, who won the Bellator’s welterweight GP submiting Bryan Baker with a heel hook Rousimar Toquinho style.

The new french star only needed 56 seconds to pounce on Baker’s leg and apply the lethal move. With the triumph, besides getting 100 thousand dollars, Amoussou will face Ben Askren for the title of the event. See black belt Amoussou in action:

Karl Amoussou finaliza Bryan Baker no Bellator. Foto: Bellator/Divulgação

Hoje, na era do MMA moderno e dos treinos com auxílio poderoso do Youtube, as chaves da cintura para baixo se diversificaram. Tidas como grosseria nos áureos tempos do Jiu-Jitsu, atualmente elas passaram a ser aceitas e vistas como uma habilidade preciosa no jogo de qualquer campeão.

Uma das provas disso tudo? O campeão Karl Amoussou, que faturou o GP dos meio-médios do Bellator ao finalizar Bryan Baker com uma  chave de calcanhar ao estilo Rousimar Toquinho.

O novo astro francês só precisou de 56 segundos para dar o bote na perna e encaixar o golpe letal, assim como costuma fazer o brasileiro, quando vence. Com o triunfo, além de abocanhar 100 mil verdinhas, Amoussou vai enfrentar Ben Askren pelo cinturão do evento. Veja a atuação do faixa-preta de judô: