Bellator News

Chris Taylor - August 18, 2018

Ricky Bandejas (11-1 MMA) picked up a statement win in his promotional debut at last night’s Bellator 204 event scoring a first-round knockout victory over the previously undefeated and highly touted James Gallagher. Bandejas was able to drop Gallagher just minutes in to the opening frame with a crisp right hand. James would scramble back to his feet but would quickly be sent back to the canvas after eating a kick that looked similar to former WWE wrestler Shawn Michaels famous sweet chin music finisher.

Drake Riggs - August 16, 2018

After a couple of rematches stole the featherweight division’s spotlight in Bellator, it’s time that we got a new and fresh matchup. Bellator will be heading back to Israel for the third time in the organization’s history as they’ll drop down in Tel Aviv at Menora Mivtachim Arena on November 15th. In the main event will the featherweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire defending against the red-hot Emmanuel Sanchez reports MMAJunkie.

Drake Riggs - August 13, 2018

When one chapter closes another begins. And it may be that time again for one of the lightweight division’s all-time greats. ‘The Underground King’ Eddie Alvarez just recently fought out of his contract in the second of two wars with Dustin Poirier.

Tom Taylor - August 6, 2018

Bellator MMA has announced the matchups for the first round of its anticipated welterweight Grand Prix, and they’re fantastic. The tournament will begin with a trilogy bout between former champions Andrey Koreshkov and Douglas Lima, who are 1-1 across their two previous bouts. The pair will collide at Bellator 206 on September 29 — an event that marks the promotion’s debut on the streaming service DAZN.

Drake Riggs - July 17, 2018

Bellator 204 is just a month away and the full card is starting to shape up. BJPenn.com’s own Drake Riggs confirmed today that a showdown between featherweight prospects Tywan Claxton and Cris “Sunshine” Williams has been added to the main card which takes place in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Tom Taylor - July 17, 2018

Earlier this summer, Bellator MMA announced plans for an eight-man welterweight tournament, much like the heavyweight Grand Prix the organization is currently promoting. At the time, the details of his eight-man tournament were scarce. While Bellator Scott Coker suggested many of Bellator’s big-name welterweights would be involved, it was not clear who exactly.

Drake Riggs - June 26, 2018

Today, a prayer to the MMA Gods is indeed in order. And compared to the previous two…this one feels like it has a good chance at being answered soon. Everybody loves the heavyweight division. Especially their legendary figures like Mirko Cro Cop, Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, Igor Vovchanchyn, Randy Couture…the list goes on.

Tom Taylor - June 26, 2018

That massive September 29th Bellator card that you’ve been hearing about? That’s going to air exclusively on the streaming service DAZN (pronounced Da Zone, for those unfamiliar). This card, which will feature a middleweight title super fight between divisional kingpin Gegard Mousasi and beefed-up welterweight champ Rory MacDonald, as well as a fourth fight between MMA legends Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Wanderlei Silva, will kick-start a multi-year deal between Bellator, parent company Viacom, and DAZN.

Tom Taylor - May 24, 2018

On Friday, Bellator MMA will celebrate its 200th fight card with the aptly-titled Bellator 200. On Thursday morning, the 34 fighters on the bill took to the scales to weigh in for the respective battles. Remarkably, only one of these 34 fighters failed to make their contracted weight, as lightweight Martyn Harris was advised to abandon his cut amid health concerns. Every other fighter on the card hit their mark. That includes middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho and challenger Gegard Mousasi, who were elevated to Bellator 200 headlining honors when Roy Nelson and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic’s anticipated rematch fell through.

Tom Taylor - May 18, 2018

The Bellator roster has been getting better and better over the last few years, as the promotion has signed a host of high profile stars, such as Rory MacDonald, Gegard Mousasi, Fedor Emelianenko, Chael Sonnen, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, Wanderlei Silva, Ryan Bader, Phil Davis, Matt Mitrione, Benson Henderson and Roy Nelson. While these are the names that have been headlining Bellator’s biggest cards of late, Bellator president Scott Coker expects the promotion’s ever-deepening pool of prospects — which includes names like Aaron Pico, AJ McKee, James Gallagher, and Tyrell and Tyree Fortune — to begin carrying the torch in the near future.

Drake Riggs - May 17, 2018

We’ve only seen the ‘Axe Murderer’, Wanderlei Silva step foot in the cage once in the last five years. That time being for when he headlined Bellator’s big Madison Square Garden show, Bellator 180 opposite his longtime rival, Chael Sonnen. ‘The American Gangster’ would go on to earn the unanimous decision victory by grinding out Silva in his usual fashion and then enter into Bellator’s heavyweight Grand Prix title tournament where he would defeat Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson in the opening round.

Tom Taylor - May 8, 2018

Over the last few weeks, there’s been significant buzz about a potential fight between Bellator welterweight champ Rory MacDonald, and former Bellator and ONE welterweight champ Ben Askren. While this fight is one that most fans want to see, the key roadblock is that, even in his retirement, Askren remains under contract with ONE Championship. In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Bellator President Scott Coker divulged that he recently met with ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong to discuss a possible Askren vs. MacDonald matchup. While we already know that Coker isn’t interested in bringing Askren back to Bellator for a one-off fight, it sounds like he is interested in swapping fighters with ONE Championship in the future.

Chris Taylor - April 28, 2018

Bellator 198 Results: Dillon Danis submits Kyle Walker Dillon Danis made his highly anticipated mixed martials arts debut at tonight’s Bellator 198 event against opponent Kyle Walker.

Drake Riggs - April 18, 2018

Despite what many may be led to believe, there is a flawlessly dominant wrestler outside of the UFC that may be a lot more well known than people assume. That wrestler turned undefeated multi-time MMA champion is none other than ‘Funky’ Ben Askren. Askren went 18-0 in his professional career before semi-retiring this past November. Funky Ben was most well known for being the dominant champion of both Bellator and ONE Championship.

Drake Riggs - April 12, 2018

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still so that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they were quiet, so he guided them to their desired haven… This isn’t always the case in MMA…not even close. As our combat-loving gods have shown over the years, they are very, very, very merciless. The evidence can be seen with the entire fight week leading up to UFC 223 this past week. On April Fools Day of all days out of the 365 days in a year, the UFC announced to the world that interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson had been injured out of his main event title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov. That by itself was enough to put everyone into a frenzy of disbelief.

Justin Golightly - March 9, 2018

Dillon Danis has an MMA debut on the horizon that has long been teased since his signing with Bellator in March of last year. Dates were set and broke, set then broke again, but now it looks like everything is good to go. First reported by MMA Fighting, Danis is going to a get a big, main card slot on the big April 28th Bellator 198 card headlined by legend Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. biggest debut in MMA History. coming to a TV near you… 💰

Justin Golightly - February 24, 2018

It seems like every year there is a tease that Chuck Liddell may come out of retirement for one or two more fights. This year, it seems to be a fight with former rival and UFC light heavyweight champion, Tito Ortiz. However, Bellator president Scott Coker is on the fence about the idea. It’s not that he wouldn’t put on the trilogy between Liddell and Ortiz, he’s just that he literally doesn’t know if he can. “My understanding is that Chuck [Liddell] is still under contract with the UFC. I’m not sure. I just thought that to be true. I don’t know the details, but when he retired, I think the contract freezes and they maintain some rights. Listen, is it a fight that would be fun to watch [between Liddell and Tito Ortiz]? I think if they both pass a physical and Tito was healthy and his neck was healthy and he was able to perform at a high level, and they were fighting, to me is it interesting? I would definitely watch it.”

Justin Golightly - February 17, 2018

The year of the superfight is truly upon us. Whether they all go down or not, three giant fights between champions in different divisions are expected to fight each other. Whether this is the UFC’s big explosion like the death of a star, or their metamorphosis to survive in the future, it’s clear that things are changing. So, if we’re going to crack open the door to allow for epic fights like these, why not just kick it off the hinges? Let’s take down the political boundaries between organizations and have champions be able to fight other champions to really decide who are the top fighters on our humble spinning rock. Unfortunately, that’s impossible until some sort of MMA Ali Act is passed. However, there is no red tape on our imagination, so this is what we’ll explore in the very first edition of Fight Think. 5.  Bellator World Grand Prix winner vs. Stipe Miocic/Daniel Cormier winner (Bellator heavyweight champion vs UFC heavyweight champion)