By FCF Staff

Bellator’s Season 5 heavyweight tournament will kick off October 1^st, at the L’Auberge Du Lac Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the promotion has announced today. The Bellator 52 card will feature all four quarter-final bouts from the competition and as always, will be broadcast live on MTV 2.

The tourney’s opening round match-ups include Ron Sparks (7-0) vs. Mark Holata (11-2), Neil Grove (11-3-1) vs. Mike “300” Hayes (15-4-1), Thiago “Big Monster” Santos (8-1) vs. Blagoi Ivanov (4-0) and Eric Prindle (7-1) vs. Abe Wagner (10-4).

Former tournament finalist Neil Grove (pictured), who lost to current champion Cole Konrad last October, was quoted saying in the press release:

“This tournament is stacked with strikers this year, which will provide a stronger line-up and even more exciting fights than last year. I’m sure Cole is just as busy as the rest of us, preparing for battle against one of us, and I’m just excited to compete for another shot at the title, especially for a promotion such as Bellator.”

The winner of the Season 5 tournament will earn a chance to face the aforementioned Konrad, who is coming off a unanimous decision win over Paul Buentello on August 20^th.