Bellator News

Tom Taylor - November 18, 2016

On December 17, when the UFC returns to Sacramento, California, rising welterweight Bryan Barberena will take on highly regarded prospect Colby Covington. If he defeats Covington, he’ll extend his win-streak to three, having taken out Sage Northcutt and Warlley Alves in his last two bouts. Despite the big stakes of this upcoming bout, Barberena recently took time out of his busy schedule for an interview with BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor.

bjpenndotcom - November 5, 2016

Can't open up a show much better!! @Eyecandyayala 👁🍭 #Bellator163 pic.twitter.com/RH6trEpQyd — Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) November 5, 2016

Tom Taylor - November 4, 2016

Bellator MMA has had an excellent year. They’ve promoted some strange, but undeniably memorable fight cards. They’ve also bolstered their roster with high profile fighters like Benson Henderson, Matt Mitrione, Sergey Kharitonov, Wanderlei Silva, Rory MacDonald and The American Gangster himself, Chael P. Sonnen. Unfortunately, it’s not all sunshine and daises for MMA’s number-two promotion. This very evening, the organization will promote a huge card in Bellator 163. This event, which will emanate from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, will pit dynamic light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary against former UFC contender Phil Davis. Regrettably, Bellator 163’s lineup has been ravaged by fighter withdrawals at the very last minute.

bjpenndotcom - October 8, 2016

Former middleweight champion Brandon Halsey and former light heavyweight champ Emanuel Newton have left the Bellator building, so to speak. The news of Newton and Halsey’s release from the promotion was confirmed by Jason Floyd of The MMA  Report, making them the third former champ to jump ship this year alone.

Russell Ess - August 26, 2016

https://youtu.be/3E7GMkmFKBI Chinzo Machida, the brother of former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, scored a brutal first-round knockout victory over Mario Navarro in his Bellator debut this evening.

bjpenndotcom - July 21, 2016

While the UFC undoubtably is the largest MMA promotion in the United States, if not the world, Bellator MMA has continued to grow in popularity among MMA fans. The promotion recently just held its Bellator 158 event in London, and is already preparing to hold their Bellator 159 event this Friday. On the heels of the UFC being sold for $4 billion after the biggest event in UFC history, UFC co-founder Campbell McLaren questions why Bellator even exists.

bjpenndotcom - July 19, 2016

Tuesday morning, Bellator MMA announced that they had released 7 fighters from the promotion. MMAJunkie confirmed the story, which revealed that the following fighters were released:

bjpenndotcom - June 25, 2016

https://youtu.be/_ryAaIZ1zYM Friday night in St Louis, Missouri, Rampage Jackson and Satoshi Ishii squared off in the main event of Bellator 157.

bjpenndotcom - June 16, 2016

Surprising news surfaced last month that Bellator MMA lightweight champion Will Brooks had been released by the promotion, and would become a free agent in the MMA market. This week Brooks revealed that he and the UFC had reached an agreement, and that he had signed with the UFC. In addition, it was revealed that Brooks would be making his UFC debut at the TUF 23 finale on July 8th against Ross Pearson.

bjpenndotcom - June 7, 2016

Tragic news surfaced Tuesday night that Kimbo Slice had passed away at the age of 42 due to what was later revealed to be heart failure. At the time of his death, Slice was preparing for his Bellator 158 scrap with James Thompson on July 16th at London’s famous ‘O2 Arena’. Following Slice’s death there was much speculation as to what would happen with the scheduled event given Slice’s untimely death, and main event slot.

Russell Ess - May 26, 2016

Former Bellator MMA Talent Development Director Zach Light is suing Bellator and parent company Viacom for wrongful dismissal. Light filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court. According to the complaint, Light alleges that it became known to him that fighters under Bellator MMA were using fraudulent medical reports to be permitted to fight for the promotion.

Chris Taylor - May 14, 2016

Phil Davis earned himself a title shot at tonight’s Bellator 154 event in San Jose by scoring a unanimous decision victory over Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal in the evening’s main event. “Mr. Wonderful” was able to smother “King Mo” for the majority of the fight, almost submitting Lawal in the bout’s third-round.

bjpenndotcom - April 30, 2016

Earlier this month, former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson made his Bellator MMA debut at Bellator 153, as he fought Andrey Koreshkov for the welterweight championship. The fight was a rough one for Henderson, who ultimately lost the bout via unanimous decision, getting beaten up pretty badly in the process. There was a silver lining for the promotion however in regards to viewership.

bjpenndotcom - March 11, 2016

Back in February Bellator headed to Houston Texas for Bellator 149. The event was an interesting one to say the least. In the co-main event Kimbo Slice and Dada 5000 squared off in a highly anticipated grudge match, while in the main event Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie had their trilogy fight nearly 25 years after the pair first met in the Octagon.

bjpenndotcom - February 27, 2016

Last night at Bellator 150, Hawaii’s very own Kendall Grove picked up a wonderfully brutal KO win over Francisco “Kiko” France.

bjpenndotcom - February 26, 2016

In the co-main event of Bellator 149, Dada 5000 and Kimbo Slice fought for nearly 3 full rounds. The pair were both exhausted from the first round, which forced referee ‘Big’ John McCarhy to even stand the pair up when Kimbo had Dada 5000 in mount at one point.

bjpenndotcom - February 23, 2016

https://youtu.be/UyLzRnki8u4 On Friday night in the co-main event of Bellator 149 Kimbo Slice and Dada 5000 squared off in their highly anticipated grudge match.

bjpenndotcom - February 19, 2016

In the main event of Bellator 149 Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie stepped into the cage to fight for a third time. The fight was a short one, that ultimately saw Gracie awarded the TKO win after landing some ground and pound on Shamrock. The controversy however came due to the fact that many noticed that Shamrock was hit in the groin before being taken down.