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The UFC is in the process of crowning the company’s first-ever women’s flyweight champion through a tournament on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter, which leads to December’s finale.
But it won’t be the first major North American promotion to crown a women’s 125-champion. Bellator will beat UFC to the punch, as it will mark its inaugural flyweight titleholder on Nov. 3.
Ilima MacFarlane will meet Emily Ducote to crown a champion at Bellator 186 in State College, Penn. MMA Fighting confirmed an initial Tuesday report by ESPN.
For the first time, Bellator will touch down at Penn State University this fall, and the light heavyweight title will be on the line.
Newly crowned champ Ryan Bader (23-5 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) will put his 205-pound belt up against Linton Vassell (18-5 MMA, 7-2 BMMA) in the Bellator 186 main event, promotion officials confirmed to PennLive.com‘s Brian Linder. Also on the card will be a pair of Penn State wrestling alums, former champ Phil Davis (17-4 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) and Ed Ruth (3-0 MMA, 3-0 BMMA), though their opponents will be announced later.
Bellator 186 will take place Nov. 3 at Bryce Jordan Center on Penn State’s campus in University Park, Pa. The main card will air on Spike following prelims on MMAjunkie.
Sam Sicilia is headed to Bellator.
The featherweight veteran, who completed his UFC contract and became a free agent at UFC Fight Night 105 with a one-sided loss to Gavin Tucker, signed a multi-fight deal with the Viacom-backed organization, MMAjunkie.com reported Wednesday.
Sicilia (15-8), who trains at Sikjitsu in Spokane, WA, ended his 12-fight stint in the Octagon riding a three-fight skid. Sicilia is coming off losses to Tucker, Gabriel Benitez and Doo Ho Choi, and hasn’t won since July 2015. After a stint on The Ultimate Fighter 15, he finished in the UFC 5-7 overall.
Heather Hardy said she fell in love with MMA; the feeling was mutual with many MMA fans.
In June at Bellator 180, Hardy (1-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), a standout boxer, made a successful MMA debut with a third-round TKO of flyweight Alice Yauger (4-6 MMA, 0-2 BMMA).
The latest Bellator 185 card includes:
Gegard Mousasi vs. Alexander Shlemenko
Muhammed Lawal vs. Liam McGeary
Heather Hardy vs. opponent TBA
Bellator is returning to Ireland this fall, and one of the country’s home-grown up-and-comers will headline the card.
James Gallagher (7-0 MMA, 4-0 BMMA), one of Conor McGregor’s training partners, will take on Jeremiah Labiano (11-5 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) in a featherweight main event when Bellator hosts a Nov. 10 show at 3Arena in Dublin. A promotion official today confirmed the news to MMAjunkie following an initial report from RealSport.com.
What does Steve Kozola have in store for a follow-up to his impressive Bellator debut? We’ll find out soon.
The undefeated Kozola (8-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) will make his second appearance for the promotion at Bellator 184, where he’ll meet another undefeated opponent in Carrington Banks (6-0 MMA, 2-0 BMMA).
Bellator MMA announced Wednesday that it will make its second visit to the tracks when the promotion hosts an event at the Earhart Campground by the Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn., on Aug. 19.
The upcoming show is part of a recent arrangement between Bellator and Monster Energy to attach a series of four-fight cards to high-profile stock car events. In this case, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race. Fans can watch the fights free of charge prior to the races.
There have been rumors that UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell is ready to make a return to the cage. Those rumors received a heavy dose of fuel on Tuesday, as Bellator fighter Chael Sonnen stoked the flames.
Sonnen, also a former UFC fighter, said that his next likely opponent in the Bellator cage is Liddell.
“I think the most likely opponent is going to end up being Chuck Liddell,” Sonnen told FloCombat. “We’ll see what happens there, but that’s what I think is going to happen.”
Talita Nogueira has a new opponent for her Bellator debut.
Originally booked to meet Gabrielle Holloway at the Bellator 182 card in Verona, N.Y., on Aug. 25, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace will now take on Amanda Bell. The promotion announced the change on Monday.
A significant welterweight bout between Paul Daley and Lorenz Larkin is the latest addition to September’s Bellator 183 lineup.
Bellator officials today confirmed the bout to MMAjunkie following an initial report from The Telegraph.
Bellator 183 takes place at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. The card airs on Spike following prelims streamed on MMAjunkie, though the bout order hasn’t been finalized.
As debuts of heavily hyped MMA prospects go, they don’t get much worse than Aaron Pico.
The good news, though, is that the 20-year-old Bellator lightweight will have a chance to make up for it sooner than later.
Bellator President Scott Coker told ESPN today that Pico (0-1 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) has been tabbed to fight on the main card of Bellator 183, which takes place Sept. 23 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., and airs on Spike. An opponent for Pico is still in the process of being finalized.
Bellator MMA CEO Scott Coker had high expectations for Bellator NYC, the promotion’s second attempt at pay-per-view television, and the first under his watch. The promotion reported that their first attempt in 2014 did just over 100,000 buys.
“This is not something we’re going to go in and out of,” said Coker three weeks before the event, to Brett Okamoto for ESPN.com. “This is something we’re committed to. The company is committed to doing PPV fights.”
New Bellator signee Gegard Mousasi will make his debut for the promotion in October.
Bellator officials today announced that Mousasi (42-6-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) will face Alexander Shlemenko (56-9 MMA, 12-3 BMMA) in the main event of Bellator 185, which takes place Oct. 20 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.
Additionally, top light heavyweights clash as Muhammed Lawal faces Liam McGeary.
Bellator bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas (20-4 MMA, 10-1 BMMA) will look for the third consecutive defense of his title later this year when he meets Darrion Caldwell (10-1 MMA, 7-1 BMMA).
Bellator officials today announced the bout will headline an Oct. 6 event, expected to serve as Bellator 184, at WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Okla.
Bellator 181 weigh-in results include:
MAIN CARD (Spike, 9 p.m. ET)
Derek Campos (155.4) vs. Brandon Girtz (157.7)
Kendall Grove (185.7) vs. John Salter (185)
Emily Ducote (124.4) vs. Jessica Middleton (125.9)
Steve Garcia (134.5) vs. Joe Warren (135.9)
PRELIMINARY CARD (MMAjunkie, 6 p.m. ET)
Guillermo Gomez (169.4) vs. Fernando Trevino (170.5)
Jordan Howard (135) vs. Johnny Marigo (135.1)
Katy Collins (124.2) vs. Bruna Vargas (125)
Valentin Moldavsky (234.8) vs. Carl Seumanutafa (263.6)
Justin Lawrence (145.6) vs. Treston Thomison (145.9)
Rafael Lovato (185.6) vs. Mike Rhodes (185.2)
E.J. Brooks (170.9) vs. Guilherme Vasconcelos (169.2)
Amanda Bell (144.2) vs. Brittney Elkin (146)
Andre Fialho (169.9) vs. A.J. Matthews (169.9)
Kemmyelle Haley (170.1) vs. Logan Storley (170.3)
Romero Cotton (185.1) vs. Aaron Rodriguez (184.8)
William Florentino (170.9) vs. Jonathan Gary (169.1)
Date: August 25, 2017
Venue: Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, NY
TV: SpikeTV/Spike.com
Fight Card:
170lbs- Andrey Koreshkov (19-2) vs. Chidi Njokuani (17-4-1)
170lbs- Fernando Gonzalez (26-14) vs. Brennan Ward (14-5)
145lbs- Georgi Karakhanyan (26-7-1) vs. Daniel Pineda (22-12)
145lbs- Noad Lahat (11-2) vs. Henry Corrales (13-3)
145lbs- Sinead Kavanagh (4-1) vs. Arlene Blencowe (9-6)
145lbs- AJ McKee (8-0) vs. Blair Tugman (10-6)
A women’s featherweight clash between Talita Nogueira and Gabrielle Holloway has been added to the Bellator 182 lineup.
The California-based promotion confirmed the pairing on Thursday. Bellator 182 take place at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, N.Y., on Aug. 25 and is headlined by a welterweight duel between Andrey Koreshkov and Chidi Njokuani.
Nogueira was supposed to make her promotional debut at Bellator 163 against Marloes Coenen, but the bout was canceled when the Brazilian missed weight by more than five pounds. The 31-year-old jiu-jitsu specialist owns a 6-0 career mark, although she has not competed since 2013.
New UFC interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and successful UFC debutant Justin Gaethje were the big winners from the most recent edition of the UFC’s annual International Fight Week – and it’s reflected in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA rankings.
Whittaker, who defeated Yoel Romero in UFC 213’s headliner, is now No. 2 at middleweight – and he also made his debut in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Gaethje, a former WSOF champ who beat lightweight vet Michael Johnson in a thrilling “Fight of the Year” candidate in The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale’s main event, moved from No. 7 to No. 4 in the division.
Gegard Mousasi was willing to compete for the Bellator middleweight championship in his promotional debut, but it looks like that’s not happening right away.
A day after Mousasi announced on The MMA Hour that he left the UFC to sign a 6-fight deal with Bellator, the promotion’s middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho told MMA Fighting he signed his next title defense.
"The plan continues the same,” Carvalho said on Tuesday. "I signed the contract today to fight Alessio Sakara in December, so it's done.”
According to the middleweight champion, the fight will take place Dec. 9 in Florence, Italy.
On the same day Gegard Mousasi’s Bellator signing was made official, another one of the promotion’s free agent pickups has been forced to withdraw from her scheduled debut.
Bellator today announced Valerie Letourneau (8-6 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) has suffered an injury and is out of Friday’s women’s flyweight bout with Emily Ducote (5-2 MMA, 3-1 BMMA). She will be replaced by Jessica Middleton (2-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA).
