Bellator News

Tom Taylor - January 5, 2021

Dillon Danis says a grappling match with undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov would be “easy work.” Nurmagomedov, who recently announced his retirement from mixed martial arts, is widely considered one of the best grapplers in the history of the sport. Yet Danis, a decorated Brazilian jiu jitsu blackbelt, believes he could make quick work of the unbeaten Russian in a straight grappling match.

Drake Riggs - January 4, 2021

The tail-end of 2020 saw the UFC make some surprising releases from their roster. In turn, that led to Bellator President Scott Coker picking them up. To the surprise of many, several names within the larger weight classes parted ways with the UFC this past year. All of which have since joined their counterpart in Bellator MMA. Most notably these names include perennial top light heavyweight contender Corey Anderson, and former UFC title challengers, Yoel Romero, and Anthony “Rumble” Johnson.

Adam Martin - January 4, 2021

Former Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren trolled his former promotion for not having any events booked for its 2021 schedule yet. The calendar just turned to 2021 and Bellator is looking to keep up its momentum after a strong end to 2020 following a long break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once Bellator returned to action in the summer, the promotion ran events from a bubble at the Mohegan and finished strong with a number of the promotion’s biggest stars fighting. Ahead of the 2021 season, Bellator has created more excitement by signing several big-name free agents.

Tom Taylor - January 4, 2021

Tito Ortiz and Josh Barnett have both expressed interest in fighting Fedor Emelianenko in the Russian legend’s final mixed martial arts bout. Emelianenko, 44, is expected to retire after his next bout, which will occur under the Bellator MMA banner.

Adam Martin - December 29, 2020

Bellator women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg teased her fans on social media that she has “big news soon” as Bellator heads into 2021. Taking to her social media ahead of the new year, Cyborg teased her fans that she has big news coming soon, all while tagging Bellator in the post, indicating a fight announcement. Check out what the Brazilian wrote on her social media below.

Drake Riggs - December 28, 2020

Jon Jones and Corey Anderson never got to square off during their time together in the UFC light heavyweight division. However, The Ultimate Fighter season 19 winner believes there are certain reasons that success has started being found against one of the all-time greats. In Jones’ last two title defenses, he went the distance with the likes of Thiago Santos and Dominick Reyes. With the first resulting in a split decision and the second a unanimous, both for Jones, many in the MMA community disagreed with the results.

Adam D Martin - December 27, 2020

Bellator president Scott Coker says that social media support made him sign former UFC star Yoel Romero to a contract with his organization. Coker and Bellator initially passed on signing Romero after the UFC released him earlier this month. Citing a younger roster as the reason for not bringing in Romero into his promotion, Coker said that Bellator wasn’t interested in signing him. However, after Bellator signed former UFC light heavyweight title contender Anthony Johnson a few days later, Coker did an about-face and signed Romero to a contract.

Adam D Martin - December 27, 2020

Bellator has signed judo ace Irina Alekseeva, who is also known as the “Russian Ronda,” to a new contract according to her management team. Brian Butler-Au of SuckerPunch Entertainment recently announced that Alekseeva will be taking her talents to Bellator. Check out the official announcement from Butler-Au below.

Tom Taylor - December 23, 2020

Bellator MMA President Scott Coker believes he knows how a rumored boxing match between Ben Askren and Jake Paul will go down. Askren claims that he’s in talks to fight Paul in March. While he previously reigned as the Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight titleholder and is a decorated wrestler, he’s never been much of a striker, and is widely expected to be at a disadvantage in a boxing match against the YouTube star turned pro boxer, Paul.

Tom Taylor - December 23, 2020

Anthony Johnson is “definitely down” to participate in a light heavyweight Grand Prix tournament in the Bellator MMA cage. Johnson, who previously challenged for the UFC light heavyweight title, recently signed with Bellator, where he will put an anticipated end to his longstanding retirement from competition.

Drake Riggs - December 22, 2020

Going into UFC Vegas 17 this past Saturday, former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis knew that he was heading into free agency. As of Tuesday, “Showtime” took to social media to declare that he will, in fact, be departing from the promotion that he’s spent the last 10 years of his career in. Prepared to test the waters of free agency, many in the MMA community have already begun speculating where he could be headed and who some new matchups could be.

Cole Shelton - December 21, 2020

Jake Paul doesn’t believe that Dillon Danis actually wants to fight him. Paul and Danis have been taken shots at one another as of late and many fans hoped we would seem the box one another. Bellator president, Scott Coker also said he would allow Danis to box the 23-year-old YouTuber, but according to Paul, the fight offer was never returned.