Bellator News

Adam D Martin - September 19, 2021

Bellator president Scott Coker hinted at potential five-round, non-title main events taking place in his promotion in the near future. For the past 10 years, the UFC has had all of its non-title main events set as five-round fights. While fans have gotten used to this change over the past decade and have even embraced it, Bellator has continued to hold three-round non-title main events. Case in point, Saturday’s headliner at Bellator 266 between Phil Davis and Yoel Romero. The fight was only scheduled for three rounds because it was a non-title fight in the Bellator light heavyweight division. Davis dominated all three rounds of the fight and, following the event, Romero indicated that he was upset the fight was not scheduled for five rounds.

Chris Taylor - September 18, 2021

Tonight’s Bellator 266 event was headlined by a light heavyweight bout featuring Yoel Romero taking on Phil Davis. Romero (13-6 MMA) was returning to action for the first time since suffering a unanimous decision loss to Israel Adesanya for the UFC’s middleweight championship in March of 2020. That setback had marked Yoel’s third in a row, as ‘The Soldier of God’ had previously been outpointed by Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker.

Chris Taylor - September 18, 2021

Tonight’s Bellator 266 event is headlined by a light heavyweight bout featuring Yoel Romero taking on Phil Davis. Romero (13-5 MMA) has not competed since suffering a unanimous decision loss to Israel Adesanya for the UFC’s middleweight championship in March of 2020. That setback marked his third in a row, as ‘The Soldier of God’ had previously been outpointed by Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker.

Chris Taylor - September 18, 2021

Anthony Johnson has been forced to withdraw from the Bellator Light Heavyweight Grand Prix and the situation sounds rather serious. Johnson (23-6 MMA), a former UFC title challenger, advanced to the Bellator Light Heavyweight Grand Prix semifinals back in May with a second round knockout victory over Jose Augusto.

Adam D Martin - September 16, 2021

Bellator light heavyweight contender Yoel Romero says that he hopes to follow in the footsteps of Bernard Hopkins and fight into his 50s. Hopkins last competed in 2016 when he was 51 years old, and Romero hopes to follow in his footsteps. Now 44 years old, Romero will be making his debut for Bellator this Saturday night when he takes on fellow former UFC fighter Phil Davis. Romero has not fought in over a year since a loss to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and given that he is already 44 and has battled health problems that delayed his Bellator debut, one would think that he maybe doesn’t have much time left in this sport. However, as far as Romero goes, he still has several good years left in him. In fact, he believes he can fight in his 50s.

Adam D Martin - September 15, 2021

Former UFC middleweight title challenger Yoel Romero shared a terrifying new photo ahead of his Bellator debut this weekend. Romero makes his long-awaited Bellator debut this Saturday night when he faces off against former Bellator light heavyweight champion Phil Davis. Romero was originally set to fight Anthony Johnson during the Bellator Light Heavyweight Grand Prix, but he was forced out of the tournament due to an eye injury. Now that Romero is healthy, he will be making his Bellator debut as expected this weekend when he faces off against the tough Davis.

Cole Shelton - September 13, 2021

Phil Davis is eager to get the chance to welcome Yoel Romero to Bellator. In the main event of Bellator 266 on September 18 in San Jose the two will share the cage. Davis is coming off the grand prix loss  Romero will be moving up to light heavyweight for is debut. It’s an intriguign mathup and for Davis, when he got the call he would be fighting Romero, he says it was an immediate yes.

Drake Riggs - September 9, 2021

Kyoji Horiguchi is taking new steps forward in his storied career. It was revealed Thursday to BJPenn.com that the current RIZIN bantamweight champion has joined the Bellator roster. RIZIN, Bellator President Scott Coker, and Horiguchi himself announced the news via social media.

Drake Riggs - September 1, 2021

Sean Strickland is not a fan of Dillon Danis. Tuesday, the rising UFC middleweight contender responded to a post made by Danis following the Jake Paul vs Tyron Woodley boxing match asking where the Bellator welterweight trained. Strickland then took things to their direct messages asking when sparring day is followed by an unavailable post on Danis’ end. Thus prompting him to respond by saying; “Little boy couldn’t take the heat [and] deleted his post. Never come at the king.”

Drake Riggs - August 26, 2021

Cris “Cyborg” Justino and Ronda Rousey were never too fond of one another. A super-fight between the two all-time greats was something fans fantasized about for years as the two went from Strikeforce to the UFC. However, it never came to fruition.

Harry Kettle - August 26, 2021

Bellator champion Cris Cyborg has given her thoughts on a potential superfight with PFL star Kayla Harrison. While both women are doing their own thing in their respective promotions, this feud certainly has a “sharks circling each other” feeling to it right now. Cyborg and Harrison have proven themselves to be amongst the most dominant female stars in the sport alongside Amanda Nunes and while fighting “The Lioness” in the UFC could happen in the future, right now Harrison’s future is up in the air as she comes towards the end of her PFL deal.

Adam D Martin - August 25, 2021

Heavyweight great Alistair Overeem says that fellow legend Fedor Emelianenko declined to fight him in Bellator not to mention in Strikeforce. Overeem became a free agent following a knockout loss to Alexander Volkov earlier this year in the UFC. “The Demolition Man” was open to signing with different promotions and had talks with Bellator about potentially fighting Emelianenko, but the fight didn’t end up getting booked, and Emelianenko instead chose Tim Johnson to fight. For his part, Overeem decided that he will take a break from MMA for now and re-joined GLORY.

Joe McDonagh - August 19, 2021

This weekend was set to feature a probable number one contenders match for who would challenge new champion AJ McKee Jr. in the near future. Adam Borics (17-1) currently ranked #3 vs. JayJay Wilson (8-0) at #5 in the division. The fight is now off due to a major weight miss by the undefeated Wilson this morning. Wilson missed weight by over 4lbs. Now missing weight is never ideal, or professional, but at times it happens in this gruesome sport. Missing weight twice is a problem, but 3 times in your last 4 appearances is more than alarming for the Bellator product.

Joe McDonagh - August 17, 2021

Bellator contender Cat Zingano was all but set to be part of a MMA film starring Halle Berry “Bruised”, but interesting events led to her suing of the actress. Zingano, according to TMZ, was promised a prominent role in the film by Berry while under contract with the UFC. It was when “Alpha” was offered a UFC fight that she had a difficult decision to make, fight for the promotion or sit on the sidelines prioritizing the movie role. This decision would crazily enough prove costly for the now Bellator fighter.

Cole Shelton - August 16, 2021

Cheick Kongo still believes he should’ve gotten an immediate rematch against Ryan Bader. At Bellator 226 in September of 2019, Kongo fought Bader for the heavyweight title and the fight ended in a No Contest due to an eye poke. Since then, Kongo has only competed once losing a split decision to Tim Johnson last October.

Adam Martin - August 15, 2021

Bellator president Scott Coker explained why the promotion’s 145lbs champion AJ McKee is the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in MMA right now. McKee recently finished Patricio Pitbull in the main event of Bellator 263 to become the promotion’s new 145lbs champion, as well as the winner of the $1 million dollar grand prize for winning the Bellator World Featherweight Grand Prix. Just 26 years old, McKee is now a perfect 18-0 in MMA. it’s the longest undefeated streak for a fighter in a major MMA promotion, and as far as McKee’s boss Coker goes, it proves that he’s among the best.

Joe McDonagh - August 13, 2021

Bellator Middleweight Champion Gegard Mousasi met the “Salty Dog” in the headliner of tonight’s Bellator 264 event. Mousasi (47-7-2) is one of the most dominant fighters on the Bellator roster to date. The Middleweight champion is 5-1 with the promotion and coming off a massive win over former welterweight champion Douglas Lima back in 2020.

Adam D Martin - August 13, 2021

Former UFC title challenge Yoel Romero is set to make Bellator MMA debut against former Bellator light heavyweight champ fighter Phil Davis. Ariel Helwani of Substack was the first to report the Romero vs. Davis fight. According to Helwani, the bout is expected to serve as the headliner of the Bellator MMA card set for September 18, which is tentatively slated to be called Bellator 266. The card is expected to take place in San Jose, California, and Romero vs. Davis will be the evening’s main event.