Bellator News

Justin Golightly - November 10, 2017

The grand prix is the pinnacle of combat sport. It is the most difficult tournament format and has the potential to produce absolutely chaotic results. That chaos is why that, for the most part other than Japan’s RIZIN, the creation of an MMA grand prix is few and far between. However, there is a man who has never strayed from that chaos, but welcomes it to put on exciting fights throughout the years. That man is Scott Coker and he is at it again. Bellator will put on a heavyweight grand prix to crown its first heavyweight champion in four years. “This is going to be something that’s iconic for us. Tournaments, traditionally, are kind of the way martial arts contests happen. Now we get to put eight iconic brand names in our sport together over a year, and then whoever wins will be crowned the heavyweight champion. I think there are certain fights that people want to see. Believe me, we’re going to have some amazing match-ups in this tournament. These fights that we’re going to put together are something that the fans want to see. These are iconic names, big brands.” — Scott Coker speaking to MMA Junkie. 

Chris Taylor - November 3, 2017

Tywan Claxton scored one of the best flying knee KO’s ever during tonight’s Bellator 186 prelims from University Park in Penn State. Claxton, who made his professional mixed martial arts debut at tonight’s event, crushed his opponent Jonathan Bonilla-Bowman with a flying knee just short of 90-seconds into the first-round.

Tom Taylor - September 24, 2017

Last night, Bellator MMA returned to San Jose, California with the stacked Bellator 183. In the card’s main event, we watched former UFC and WEC lightweight champion Benson Henderson collide with long-time Bellator lightweight contender Patricky “Pitbull” Freire. As is so often the case when it comes to Benson Henderson fights, this one was incredibly close. For three rounds, we watched Henderson relentlessly pursue the takedown, effectively shutting down Pitbull’s offense as he did, while Pitbull denied all of those takedown attempts, depriving Henderson of the opportunity to rack up points in the judges’ eyes.

Tom Taylor - September 20, 2017

When former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald joined the Bellator family in August of 2016, he was expected to get an immediate title shot. Instead, however, he was booked for a May 2017 scrap with British knockout artist Paul Daley. When MacDonald won this battle with Daley with a second-round submission, he seemed to erase any doubt that he deserved the next shot at Bellator welterweight king Douglas Lima. Unfortunately, he then went months without a fight offer, which caused him to grow frustrated with his new employers, and even begin discussing a possible super fight with former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler.

Russell Ess - September 19, 2017

Bellator will be using their 'Flying Cage' for #Bellator183 & Bellator Kickboxing 7 on Saturday. Here's a look at the flying cage in action: pic.twitter.com/6ihLQPNxm2 — Simon Head (@simonhead) September 19, 2017

bjpenndotcom - July 19, 2017

This past weekend at Bellator 181, Brandon Girtz stepped into the cage for a highly anticipated rubber match with Derek Campos. That trilogy saw the two men tied at 1 win apiece, as Campos won the pair’s first fight by unanimous decision in 2013, before Girtz then evened the score in 2015 as he knocked Campos out in the first round. This past weekend in the pair’s trilogy fight, Campos picked up a 2nd round TKO win after the doctor stopped the fight due to a horrendous cut on Girtz forehead, a cut that many quickly realized looked like the Michael Jordan ‘Jumpman’ logo.

Chris Taylor - July 14, 2017

Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion and perennial middleweight contender Gegard Mousasi will make his Bellator MMA debut this October. Bellator officials broke the news during tonight’s broadcast on Spike TV stating that Gegard Mousasi (42-6-2 MMA) will make is promotional debut against former Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko (56-9 MMA) on October 20 live from the Mohegan Sun Casino.

Tom Taylor - June 6, 2017

The roster of Bellator MMA – the world’s second biggest MMA promotion – has improved a great deal over the last year or two. The promotion has injected a tremendous amount of talent into its heavyweight division, picking up free agents like Matt Mitrione, Fedor Emelianenko, Sergei Kharitonov, and most recently, Roy Nelson. The promotion has turned its light heavyweight division into an absolute must-watch, picking up names like Phil Davis, Wanderlei Silva, Chael Sonnen, Ryan Bader, Alessio Sakara, and Satoshi Ishii.

bjpenndotcom - May 19, 2017

Former UFC welterweight veteran Rory MacDonald stepped into the Bellator MMA cage for the first time on May 19th in the United Kingdom as he fought heavy handed knockout artist Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley. Going into the fight, there was much question about where MacDonald, a fighter who was near the pinnacle of combat sports when he fought for the UFC welterweight title, would fall in the Bellator MMA rankings. When the ‘Red King’ stepped into the Octagon with Daley, he was all business as he dominated the fight in the first round, controlling Daley on the ground and negating his knockout ability. In the second round it was more of the same as MacDonald quickly took Daley down. This time however, rather than dominate Daley throughout the entire round, MacDonald secured a rear naked choke, securing his first Bellator MMA win.

Tom Taylor - April 22, 2017

Last night, Bellator MMA touched down in the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut with Bellator 178. The card produced a handful of truly impressive finishes. One of the more impressive finishes on the card was dealt by rising featherweight prospect, AJ McKee, who is the son of MMA veteran Antonio McKee. The younger McKee authored his win with a partially blocked, second round head kick. This thunderous kick, which occurred just 1:15 into the first round,  sent his foe Dominic Mazzotta careening to the mat in an unconscious heap.

Tom Taylor - April 22, 2017

According to a report from MMAFighting.com, Bellator MMA is on the verge of signing another former UFC title challenger. That title challenger is Canada’s Valérie Létourneau, who fought for the UFC strawweight title in 2015, putting forth a valiant effort against dominant champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Létourneau is currently on an unfortunate, three-fight losing streak, having dropped this fight to Jedrzejczyk, succumbed to strikes dealt by Joanne Calderwood, and given up a razor-thin decision to Viviane Pereira back in December. After these losses, she was released by the promotion.

Tom Taylor - April 11, 2017

Yesterday afternoon, in a statement to BJPenn.com, UFC featherweight star Cris “Cyborg” Justino discussed her current inactivity, her hopes for a UFC 214 fight with reigning featherweight champ Germaine de Randamie, and her intention to fight out her current UFC contract and ‘re-evaluate the situation.’ “If [Germaine de Randamie] is not healthy enough to fight at UFC 214 in Anaheim, I don’t want an interim belt,” Cyborg said in this statement. “When the UFC asked me last January to fight her for the belt, I explained to them I would, but needed a March date because my body was still recovering from two weight cuts to 140lbs. So I know what it is like to want to accept the fight, but needing additional time to heal.”