Bellator News

BJPENN.COM News - January 9, 2013

In anticipation of Bellator MMA’s highly anticipated Spike debut January 17th from Irvine’s Bren Center, Bellator MMA will be hosting a fighter open workout for media from 1 – 3 p.m. PST on Tuesday, January 15 from HB Ultimate Training Center. The workout will be attended by Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney as well as Bellator MMA fighters, including Bellator Lightweight World Champion Michael Chandler, his title challenger and former Judo Olympian Rick Hawn, Bellator Featherweight Champion Pat Curran, explosive Brazilian & Tournament Champion Patricio Pitbull, Light Heavyweight “Babalu” Sobral and Southern California’s own Mike “Joker” Guymon and Mario Navarro.

BJPENN.COM News - January 8, 2013

“I’ve got wild respect for Ed. In our contract with Ed, exactly like the UFC has in their contracts, we have the right to match. Ed went out and got an offer from the UFC, and we took a look at that offer, reviewed it for about eight days, and decided to match it dollar for dollar, deal point for deal point, term for term. We matched every single element of it, word for word. We matched the deal, and literally just signed it and sent it to him. Because that’s what our contract requires us to do, we matched it and sent it to him signed. So if he were to send it back signed, we’d be off and running and we could start looking at scheduling; we could start figuring out what’s next immediately.

BJPENN.COM News - January 4, 2013

If you haven’t been following along, top free agent, Eddie Alvarez is in contract limbo waiting to make the move to the UFC. The Bellator organization is doing what they can to halt that move.

BJPENN.COM News - December 22, 2012

The Bellator fight promotion is continuing to hype up their debut on SPIKE TV for the 8th season of their tournament format. With the hype train at full speed comes the latest preview featured above with what we, as MMA fans, can expect from the countries number 2 MMA promotion!

BJPENN.COM News - December 15, 2012

Bellator light-heavyweight fighter, King Mo Lawal, allowed cameras into his recent boxing training session. Working on his defense, the former Strikeforce champion was caught with a body shot that sent him to the canvas. Training Mo is none other than famed boxing coach Jeff Mayweather.

BJPENN.COM News - December 13, 2012

BJPENN.COM News - December 4, 2012

Former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion, “King Mo” Lawal, is set to make his Bellator debut on January 17 in Irvine California. MMAFighting.com got the scoop:

BJPENN.COM News - November 26, 2012

In a creative twist to the standard fight contract, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney announced today that his fight promotion will start implementing a championship rematch clause in their bout agreements. What this means is that at their discretion they can grant an automatic rematch to any champion dethroned by his title challenger.

BJPENN.COM News - November 8, 2012

War MachineGet More: War Machine

BJPENN.COM News - November 8, 2012

BJPENN.COM News - November 6, 2012

The toughest tournament in sports continued, as two more fighters punched their tickets to the finals. Heavyweight Rich Hale came back in a big way, flooring Thiago Santos before finishing him with ground and pound to secure a finals spot. In a featherweight tilt, Shahbulat Shamhalaev scored an impressive first round knockout against fellow striker Mike Richman to advance to the finals. Douglas Lima made a successful return, as he dominated Kobe Ortiz before finishing him late in the fight. Ryan Ford continued to shine, notching his second win in Bellator. Check out the Bellator 79 highlights.

BJPENN.COM News - October 25, 2012

“Talks have gone really well with Bellator and Eddie just wants to fight the best fighters he can, and get a contract he feels is fair, but I can tell you Bjorn has gone out of his way to make Eddie feel welcome and talks have gone well so far, so we’ll see what the future brings. He doesn’t want to sit out too long so we’d like to get things wrapped up. At the end of the day, Bellator has a 90-day negotiating period, so we’re finishing talks with them and we have to see where things go with that. Yeah he’d like to fight right away, but he doesn’t want to rush to make a deal either, make a hasty deal because he’s in a rush. He’s a very smart guy, and we’ve got to take our time, take it one step at a time to get ultimately where he needs to be.” Eddie Alvarez is arguably the Bellator promotions biggest and most recognizable star. Currently a free agent, UFC President Dana White has had no issue with publicly expressing his interest in the lightweight talent.

BJPENN.COM News - October 22, 2012

“I had to change shirts. I didn’t know what to expect. The people didn’t know who I was. They respect me because I respect the sport. The fans could have booed me or not cheer for me. I was happy that I got some kind of pop. I was cool with the reaction. I would have been in trouble if I got no reaction. That was my main concern.” “The wrestlers were cool. They respect me because I respect wrestling. I know a lot of old school wrestlers, their moves, etc. I was a huge wrestling fan growing up and now I’m stepping into their world and training to do it.”

BJPENN.COM News - October 22, 2012

“I cannot believe [Bellator] would allow [its] champion to be placed on the UN televised undercard in her hometown. A champion is a champion regardless if she is fighting up a weight, u use her image to promote the posters & then put her on the undercard?! Blows my mind. This is the 2nd time too you have done this I tell you what I would rather never fight MMA again then fight for u under @BellatorMMA banner…. The amount of disrespect you have given @ZoilaGurgel is disgusting.” Former Strikeforce female champion, Miesha Tate, took to twitter to express her disgust with Bellator FC for putting their female champion on the under card of this Friday’s Bellatory 78 event.

BJPENN.COM News - October 22, 2012

Last weeks Bellator 77 played host to a main event between 20-0 Russian lightweight Alexander Sarnavskiy versus UFC veteran Rich Clementi. Clementi was able to secure a split-decision victory over the previously unbeaten prospect and advanced himself through the Bellator lightweight tournament.

BJPENN.COM News - October 18, 2012

“I want to sit down with the people of Viacom. I’m interested in what’s going on with the Spike deal next year. Of course Bellator has a ton of huge things going on, and I’m interested in what them guys have to say. From there, we’ll field offers from everyone else, the UFC and everyone else, whoever is out there, I don’t know who’s out there. I didn’t know Bellator existed, they just started when I was done with my Dream contract, they just popped up out of nowhere.” “I’m not impatient. I’m taking my time with this. There’s very few times in your career when you become a free agent after winning. That’s the biggest key. So I’m taking my time, enjoying my family back home, and just eating a little bit of normal meals.”