Bellator lightweights face off against each other ahead of the 8 man Lightweight Grand Prix

Bellator has become synonymous with their Grand Prix tournaments in recent years, with the winner earning a $1 million grand prize, a Grand Prix championship, and the undisputed championship of their weight-division. The champion being a participant in the tournament has also added more excitement since the promotion adopted that format.

Prior to the weigh-ins for Bellator 290, the participants of the upcoming lightweight Grand Prix took part in a press conference and faced off with the fighters that they will be matched up with in the opening round. The promotion's President, Scott Coker, began the press conference and spoke on the level of competition in the tournament.

Coker said:

"When I think about this tournament - I was in the back, Chael {Sonnen} and I were talking about it - it's really the toughest lightweight tournament I think in the history of mixed martial arts." [12:31 - 12:42]

Chael Sonnen, who was handling the press conference, echoed Coker's sentiments about the Grand Prix. He also doubled down on those claims and mentioned that he believes the lightweight tournament should be held in a higher regard, saying:

"I don't know if I've ever disagreed with Scott Coker until about 5 minutes before we walked out here. He declared this tournament to be the toughest tournament he'd seen in lightweight history and I declare it to be the toughest tournament I've seen in MMA history." [24:50 - 25:02]

The matchups that fans will see in the opening round of Bellator's lightweight Grand Prix include A.J. McKee vs. Patricky 'Pitbull' Freire, Tofiq Musayev vs. Alexander Shabliy, Sidney Outlaw vs. Mansour Barnaoui, and Benson Henderson vs. lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov.

Check out the full press conference:

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Fedor Emelianenko set to compete in his retirement fight at Bellator 290

Bellator 290 will be a significant event as the promotion will make its network debut on CBS and MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko will be competing in his retirement fight when he challenges heavyweight champion Ryan Bader.

Many MMA pioneers and legends are in attendance and part of the festivities as the promotion will provide 'The Last Emperor' with a proper sendoff and show their gratitude for his accomplishments. During the Bellator 290 press conference earlier this week, Emelianenko spoke on his longevity in the sport and was grateful to his team.

He said:

"I'm surprised myself that I'm still able to fight at this level after all these years. I've preserved myself pretty well. And of course, thank you to my team because they support me all the time. I had a pretty good career and a pretty good package of different skills so I tried to preserve those skills until my later age." [30:35 - 31:16]

Check out the full press conference: