Joe Soto, Joe Warren Meet in Bellator's First True Title Fight

Filed under: Bellator, NewsThe surge in popularity of mixed martial arts in the last five years brought with it plenty of upstart promotions looking for their piece of the pie.

A few major promotions have come along, and a few have gone away, including EliteXC and Affliction, both rather infamously.

When Bellator Fighting Championships arrived in spring 2009, it launched with a format unique enough to give it a better shot at longevity than some of its predecessors.

Using season-long tournaments, Bellator crowned champions in four weight classes in its first season. The Season 2 tournaments in those classes created opponents for the Season 1 champs to defend their belts against.

Thursday, in Season 3, in its 27th event, Bellator gets to see some of the fruits of its labor when Season 1 featherweight title winner Joe Soto meets Season 2 tournament champ Joe Warren in San Antonio. It will be Bellator's first true title fight.

BJ PENN BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU SCHOOLS DANA WHITE