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Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) is an American
mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...
promotion founded in 2008 and based in
Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...
, owned and operated as a subsidiary of television and media conglomerate
Paramount Global Paramount Global ( doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. ...
. It is the second largest in the United States and one of the largest
combat sport A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a competitive contact sport that usually involves one-on-one combat. In many combat sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the opponent, submitting the opponent with a hold, disabling the oppo ...
promotions in the world. The promotion takes its name from '' bellātor'', the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
word for "warrior". Bellator's first event was held in 2009, and the promotion had since held over 200 "numbered" events as of December 2019. The promotion features talents such as
Vadim Nemkov Vadim Aleksandrovich Nemkov (russian: Вадим Александрович Немков; born 20 June 1992) is a Russian professional mixed martial artist and a four-time Combat Sambo World Champion. He currently competes in the Light Heavyweigh ...
, Kyoji Horiguchi,
Yoel Romero Yoel Romero Palacio (born April 30, 1977) is a Cuban professional mixed martial artist and former freestyle wrestler. He currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division for Bellator MMA. Romero formerly competed in the Middleweight divi ...
,
Yaroslav Amosov Yaroslav Amosov (born 9 September 1993) is a Ukrainian mixed martial artist, currently competing in the welterweight division of Bellator MMA, where he is the current Bellator Welterweight Champion. As of June 28, 2022, he is #4 in the Bellato ...
, Patrício Pitbull,
Cris Cyborg Cristiane Justino Venâncio (born July 9, 1985), known professionally by her ring name Cris Cyborg (and formerly by her married name Cristiane Santos), is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist who as of January 2021 competes in Bellator MMA ...
,
A. J. McKee A. J. McKee (born April 7, 1995) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in Bellator's Featherweight and Lightweight division, where he is the former Bellator Featherweight Champion. As of February 28, 2023, he is #4 in the Bel ...
,
Michael Page Michael Jerome Reece-Pagewkaassociation.com, Retrieved 28 August 2017. (born 7 April 1987) is a British kickboxer, boxer, and mixed martial artist. He is recognised in the MMA community for his unorthodox fighting style, which originated fro ...
,
Douglas Lima Douglas Lima (born 5 January 1988) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the welterweight division of Bellator MMA, where he is a former three-time Bellator Welterweight Champion. He is also the former MFC Welterweight Champion. ...
,
Usman Nurmagomedov Usman Nurmagomedov (born April 17, 1998), is a Russian mixed martial artist currently competing in the Lightweight division of Bellator MMA, where he is the current Bellator Lightweight World Champion. He has previously competed in the UAE Warr ...
, Gegard Mousasi, and
Sergio Pettis Sergio Jerome Pettis (born August 18, 1993) is an American mixed martial artist who is currently signed with Bellator MMA, where he is the current Bellator Bantamweight Champion. Prior to signing with Bellator, Pettis competed in the Ultimate Fi ...
. Fighters such as
Eddie Alvarez Edward "Eddie" Alvarez (born January 11, 1984) is an American mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Lightweight (170 lb) division of ONE Championship. He also formerly competed in the UFC and Bellator MMA, winning world titles ...
, Michael Chandler,
Ben Askren Benjamin Michael Askren (born July 18, 1984) is an American former professional mixed martial artist and amateur wrestler. Askren was the former Bellator and ONE Welterweight Champion, remaining undefeated for over a decade before competing i ...
, Anthony Johnson, Rory MacDonald, and Fedor Emelianenko have also fought under the Bellator umbrella.


History

Bellator was founded in 2008 by Chairman and CEO
Bjorn Rebney Bjorn Rebney is an American businessman who served as chairman and chief executive officer of Bellator MMA from 2008 until June 2014. Background Rebney attended Ohio University on a football scholarship and then attended law school. Rebney di ...
. Under Rebney's ownership, Bellator events were structured around single-elimination tournaments. In December 2011, Viacom purchased majority ownership of Bellator. In May 2014, Bellator hosted the company's inaugural pay-per-view event from the
Landers Center The Landers Center is an 8,400-seat multi-purpose arena in Southaven, Mississippi. It is home to the Memphis Hustle of the NBA G League, a minor league basketball team affiliated with the Memphis Grizzlies. History The center was built in 2000 ...
. In June 2014, it was announced that both Chairman/CEO Bjorn Rebney and President Tim Danaher were relieved of their positions. Rebney was succeeded by Strikeforce founder Scott Coker. Under Coker, Bellator would drop its season-long tournament format in early 2015, transitioning into more of a traditional, single-fight event schedule. Since 2018, Bellator hosts divisional grand-prix tournaments.


Broadcast partners

Since the fourth season in 2011, Bellator cards have been predominantly broadcast on Viacom-owned networks in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. Beginning in January 2013, Bellator telecasts were moved from
MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to shift its programm ...
to Spike (later relaunched as Paramount Network in 2018) following the end of the latter channel's partnership with the UFC. In September 2013, Bellator signed a multi-year partnership agreement with Fox Sports Latin America. On June 26, 2018, Bellator announced a five-year streaming deal with DAZN, covering the U.S. and other markets served by the sports-oriented streaming service. Since Bellator 206, this includes all events aired by Paramount Network, as well as seven exclusive cards per-year. In March 2020, Bellator announced a deal with ESPN Brasil to broadcast events in the country. Following Viacom's re-merger with
CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, an ...
in 2019,
CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known ...
debuted the recap series, ''Bellator MMA: Recharged'', on April 25, 2020. Due to problems stemming from
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, the contract with DAZN was consensually and prematurely discontinued in 2020. On September 11, 2020, it was announced that Bellator cards would move to CBS Sports Network starting October 1, with preliminary bouts to stream on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
and
CBSSports.com CBSSports.com (formerly CBS SportsLine.com and SportsLine USA) is an American sports news website operated by Paramount Streaming, itself a division of Paramount Global. It is the website for CBS's CBS Sports division that features news, high ...
. Five months later, on February 9, 2021, it was announced that Bellator events would air exclusively on Showtime beginning with Bellator 255 on April 2, 2021. The following day, it was announced that the BBC would also broadcast Bellator events on
BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...
in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
.


Rankings

In February 2021, Scott Coker announced that the organization will incorporate official rankings beginning from Bellator 255 in April.


Roster


Current champions


Events


Fight Master

' On February 5, 2013, Bellator and Spike announced the launch of a new reality competition series titled '' Fight Master: Bellator MMA''. The coaches and trainers for the series, which will feature 32 welterweight fighters, will be
Randy Couture Randall Duane Couture (; born June 22, 1963) is an American actor, former U.S. Army sergeant, former mixed martial artist and former collegiate and Greco-Roman wrestler. During his tenures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), he bec ...
, Frank Shamrock, Greg Jackson, and Joe Warren. The 32 fighters competed for a spot in Bellator's fall welterweight tournament, culminating in a live season finale. The series premiered on Spike on June 19, 2013, and ran for a single season.


Bellator Kickboxing

In 2016, Bellator Kickboxing, a sibling
kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, general ...
promotion was founded. Its inaugural event, Bellator Kickboxing 1, was held on April 16, 2016.


Tournament History


Season One

Bellator Fighting Championships: Season One (April 3, 2009 – June 19, 2009) During Bellator's first season, events were broadcast nationally on
ESPN Deportes ESPN Deportes (, ''ESPN Sports'') is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications ( ...
in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. '' Bellator 1'' took place on April 3, 2009, and like many events that season, aired via tape delay. Tournaments took place in the middleweight, welterweight, lightweight and featherweight divisions with the winners becoming the inaugural Bellator World Champions in their specific weight class. Héctor Lombard defeated
Jared Hess Jared Lawrence Hess (born July 18, 1979) and Jerusha Elizabeth Hess ( Demke; born May 12, 1980) are husband-and-wife American filmmakers best known for their work on '' Napoleon Dynamite'' (2004), '' Nacho Libre'' (2006) and '' Gentlemen Bronc ...
in the finals of the middleweight tournament to become the 185 lb. Champion while Lyman Good defeated Omar De La Cruz to secure the Bellator Welterweight Title. In addition,
Eddie Alvarez Edward "Eddie" Alvarez (born January 11, 1984) is an American mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Lightweight (170 lb) division of ONE Championship. He also formerly competed in the UFC and Bellator MMA, winning world titles ...
defeated Toby Imada to win the Bellator Lightweight Belt while Joe Soto defeated Yahir Reyes to become the Bellator Featherweight Champion. Color commentary for Bellator's first season was provided by Jon Anik and Jason Chambers. *Winners:


Season Two

Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Two (April 8, 2010 – June 24, 2010) For Bellator's second season, events aired nationally on FOX Sports Net in the United States. Season two debuted on April 8, 2010, and like season one, hosted tournaments in the middleweight, welterweight, lightweight and featherweight divisions.
Alexander Shlemenko Alexander Pavlovich Shlemenko (russian: Александр Павлович Шлеменко, born 20 May 1984) is a Russian mixed martial artist currently fighting in the Middleweight division. He is most notable for fighting for Bellator Fi ...
defeated Bryan Baker (fighter) to become the Middleweight Tournament Champion while
Ben Askren Benjamin Michael Askren (born July 18, 1984) is an American former professional mixed martial artist and amateur wrestler. Askren was the former Bellator and ONE Welterweight Champion, remaining undefeated for over a decade before competing i ...
defeated Dan Hornbuckle to win the 170 lb tournament. Also, Pat Curran defeated Toby Imada to win the lightweight tournament and Joe Warren (fighter) defeated Patricio Pitbull to become the Featherweight Tournament Champion. Season two tournament champions were awarded a check for $100,000 and a title shot against the Season 1 Champions. In addition to the tournament fights, season two was the first season to host non-tournament, non-title super fights for current champions. Three of Bellator's four champions competed in super fights during Season 2. Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard scored the fastest knockout in Bellator history when he defeated Jay Silva in a catch weight bout at ''
Bellator 18 2010 in Bellator MMA was the second installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships (Bellator FC)-produced series. It started on April 8, 2010 and ended June 24, 2010. Tournaments were held in the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and m ...
''. Also, Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez submitted
Josh Neer Joshua Martin Neer (born March 24, 1983) is an American bare-knuckle boxer and former mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2003, he has competed for the UFC, Bellator, the Quad Cities Silverbacks of the IFL, and Shark Fights. ...
in a catch weight bout at '' Bellator 17'' and Joe Soto scored a technical knockout victory over Diego Saraiva in a featherweight bout at '' Bellator 19''. Welterweight Champion Lyman Good was the only champion to not participate in a season two non-title super fight. Bellator also introduced the new commentary team of Jimmy Smith and
Sean Wheelock Sean Wheelock (born 1974) is a mixed martial arts and soccer commentator based in Shawnee, Kansas. He served as the commentator for the M-1 Challenge and served as the play-by-play television commentator for Bellator Fighting Championships fr ...
during Season 2. *Winners:


Season Three

Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Three (August 12, 2010 – October 28, 2010) Bellator kicked off its third season on August 12, 2010, with tournaments in the bantamweight, heavyweight, and women's divisions.
Zach Makovsky Zachary Paul "Zach" Makovsky (born April 19, 1982) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the flyweight division of the Brave Combat Federation. He has competed in EliteXC, ShoXC, Bellator, and Ultimate Fighting Champio ...
defeated Ed West at '' Bellator 32'' to win the 135 lb tournament and become the promotions first ever Bellator Bantamweight Champion. Also that same evening, Cole Konrad submitted Neil Grove to win the heavyweight tournament and become the first Heavyweight Champion in Bellator history. Zoila Gurgel became the first Bellator Women's Champion when she defeated Megumi Fujii at '' Bellator 34''. The first official title defense took place between defending Bellator Featherweight Champion Joe Soto and Season 2 Tournament Champion Joe Warren at '' Bellator 27''. Warren defeated Soto by TKO to become the new Bellator Featherweight Champion. Other championship fights featured during season 3 were Hector Lombard retaining his Bellator middleweight championship by defeating Season 2 Tournament Winner, Alexander Shlemenko and Season 2 Welterweight Tournament Champion, Ben Askren, defeating reigning champion Lyman Good to become the new Bellator Welterweight Champion. Some of the memorable moments from Bellator's Season three are Eddie Alvarez's third-round TKO victory over UFC veteran Roger Huerta in a non-title match and Bellator Middleweight Champion Hector Lombard's 38 second knockout of Herbert Goodman at '' Bellator 24''. *Winners:


Season Four – The MTV2 Partnership

Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Four (March 5, 2011 – May 21, 2011) Season Four of Bellator began broadcasting nationally on March 5, 2011, and marked the promotions departure from FOX Sports Net to
MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to shift its programm ...
. Season 4 showcased tournaments in the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and light heavyweight divisions. Patricio "Pitbull" defeated Daniel Mason-Straus at '' Bellator 45'' to become the Bellator Featherweight Tournament Champion while Christian M'Pumbu defeated Richard Hale (fighter) the same night to become the first Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion in history. Also, Michael Chandler became the Bellator Season 4 Lightweight Tournament Champion when he defeated Patricky "Pitbull" at '' Bellator 44'' while Jay Hieron booked a welterweight title shot by defeating Rick Hawn in the Bellator Welterweight Tournament Championship at '' Bellator 43''. Some of the memorable highlights from Bellator's fourth season include Ben Saunders earning a TKO victory over Matt Lee in his Bellator debut, Richard Hale's inverted triangle choke over Nik Fekete at '' Bellator 38'', a flying knee knockout by Patricky "Pitbull" over Toby Imada at '' Bellator 39'' and Hector Lombard's one punch knockout of
Falaniko Vitale Falaniko "Niko" Vitale is a retired American mixed martial artist. He competed in the Middleweight division and has fought in the UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce, the IFL, and King of the Cage. He is a former SuperBrawl Middleweight Champion, and a ...
at '' Bellator 44''. Hale and Pitbull were, respectively, nominated for the 2011 World MMA Awards submission of the year and knockout of the year. *Winners:


Summer Series 2011

Bellator Fighting Championships: 2011 Summer Series (June 25, 2011 – August 27, 2011) In the summer of 2011, Bellator introduced the Summer Series which would feature a featherweight tournament that would decide a challenger for reigning Bellator Featherweight Champion Joe Warren. Like Season 4, the Summer Series was broadcast nationally on MTV2. A total of three events were held during the Summer Series including ''
Bellator 47 2011 in Bellator MMA was the fourth installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships. Mixed martial arts tournaments were held in multiple weight classes, including three of the original tournament classes: Welterweight, Lightweight and Feathe ...
'' which took place at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario, Canada. This event marked the first time Bellator held an event outside the United States. In the featherweight tournament, Pat Curran defeated Marlon Sandro with a highlight reel head kick knockout in the finals at '' Bellator 48'' to become the Bellator Summer Series Featherweight Tournament Champion. In addition to the featherweight tournament, Bellator also hosted a number of featured bouts, including Cole Konrad's non-title win over Paul Buentello and
Seth Petruzelli Seth Christopher Petruzelli (born December 3, 1979) is an American retired mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler and entrepreneur. Petruzelli competed in the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions for the UFC, WEC, EliteXC, ...
securing a knockout win over former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez at ''Bellator 48''. *Winner:


Season Five: The Viacom Era

Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Five (September 10, 2011 – November 26, 2011) Bellator's fifth season, which began on September 10, 2011, continued to air on MTV2 in the United States as well as in HD on
Epix Epix (pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as P) is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the Epix Entertainment LLC subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a subsidiary of Amazon's MGM Holdings, Inc. The channel's ...
. Bellator Tournaments for Season Five featured the bantamweight, welterweight, middleweight and heavyweight divisions. Additionally, Bellator announced that the preliminary cards for each event would air on Spike.com as well as Bellator's
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...
page. In the tournament finals,
Eduardo Dantas Eduardo Dantas (born 3 February 1989) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist who competes in the bantamweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2007, Dantas mostly fought for the Bellator MMA where he was the former two-tim ...
defeated
Alexis Vila Alexis Vila Perdomo (born March 12, 1971) is a Cuban professional mixed martial artist. An accomplished wrestler, Vila is also a two-time World Champion and 1996 Olympic bronze medallist. At the 1996 Summer Olympics he won the bronze medal in ...
at '' Bellator 59'' to become the Bellator Bantamweight Tournament Champion while
Douglas Lima Douglas Lima (born 5 January 1988) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the welterweight division of Bellator MMA, where he is a former three-time Bellator Welterweight Champion. He is also the former MFC Welterweight Champion. ...
knocked out Ben Saunders at '' Bellator 57'' to become the Bellator Welterweight Tournament Champion. Also, Alexander Shlemenko defeated Vitor Vianna at ''Bellator 57'' to become the Bellator Middleweight Tournament Champion while the heavyweight final between Eric Prindle and
Thiago Santos Thiago Santos de Lima (born January 7, 1984) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist currently signed to the Professional Fighters League (PFL), competing in the light heavyweight division. Prior to signing with the PFL, Santos competed for the Ulti ...
was ruled a no contest after an accidental groin kick left Prindle unable to continue. Santos failed to make weight for a scheduled rematch causing the bout to be cancelled, and Prindle to be awarded the tournament win by default. On October 26, 2011, Viacom, the parent company of MTV Networks, announced the purchase of a majority stake in Bellator. As part of the deal, Paramount Network, then known as Spike TV, began broadcasting Bellator live in 2013. On November 7, 2011, in an effort to expand to outside markets, Bellator announced a five-year partnership with FremantleMedia that would allow the company to position itself as one of the premier MMA organizations internationally. On November 19, 2011, at '' Bellator 58'', the company hosted what was called the best fight in the promotion's early history. Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez fought Season 4 Lightweight Tournament Champion Michael Chandler in a back-and-forth affair. In the end, Chandler defeated Alvarez via fourth round submission to become the new Bellator Lightweight Champion in a fight that several journalists called the fight of the year. Other memorable highlights from season five include Douglas Lima's knockout victory over Chris Lozano at ''Bellator 53'', Eric Prindle's knockout win over Ron Sparks at ''Bellator 56'', Vitor Vianna's knockout of Bryan Baker at ''
Bellator 54 2011 in Bellator MMA was the fourth installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships. Mixed martial arts tournaments were held in multiple weight classes, including three of the original tournament classes: Welterweight, Lightweight and Feather ...
'' and a pair of knockout victories by Alexis Vila and Eduardo Dantas at ''Bellator 51''. *Winners:


Season Six

Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Six (March 9, 2012 – August 24, 2012) Bellator's sixth season began on March 9, 2012, with Bellator 60, when Pat Curran captured the Bellator Featherweight Championship after beating champion Joe Warren. At Bellator 64,
Ben Askren Benjamin Michael Askren (born July 18, 1984) is an American former professional mixed martial artist and amateur wrestler. Askren was the former Bellator and ONE Welterweight Champion, remaining undefeated for over a decade before competing i ...
defended his Welterweight title against
Douglas Lima Douglas Lima (born 5 January 1988) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the welterweight division of Bellator MMA, where he is a former three-time Bellator Welterweight Champion. He is also the former MFC Welterweight Champion. ...
by unanimous decision. At Bellator 65,
Eduardo Dantas Eduardo Dantas (born 3 February 1989) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist who competes in the bantamweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2007, Dantas mostly fought for the Bellator MMA where he was the former two-tim ...
defeated then champion
Zach Makovsky Zachary Paul "Zach" Makovsky (born April 19, 1982) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the flyweight division of the Brave Combat Federation. He has competed in EliteXC, ShoXC, Bellator, and Ultimate Fighting Champio ...
to become the new Bellator Bantamweight Champion. At Bellator 70, Cole Konrad took down Eric Prindle in the first round to defend his Bellator Heavyweight Championship. *Winners:


Summer Series 2012

Bellator Fighting Championships: 2012 Summer Series (June 22, 2012 – August 24, 2012) In the summer of 2012, Bellator held its second Summer Series which would feature a Light Heavyweight tournament that would decide a challenger for reigning Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Christian M'Pumbu. The Summer Series started June 22, 2012, and was broadcast nationally on MTV2 for a total of three events. In the Light Heavyweight tournament, Attila Vegh defeated Travis Wiuff with a knockout in the finals at Bellator 73 to become the 2012 Bellator Summer Series Light Heavyweight Tournament Champion. In addition to the Light Heavyweight tournament, Bellator also hosted a number of featured bouts, including a third fight between Marius Zaromskis and Waachiim Spiritwolf at Bellator 72. Bellator also finished two Season Six tournaments with Karl Amoussou defeating Bryan Baker at Bellator 72 to become the Season Six Welterweight Champion, and Marcos Galvao defeating Luis Nogueira at Bellator 73 to become the Season Six Bantamweight Champion. Pat Curran was also set to defend his Featherweight Championship versus Patricio Friere, who is the Season Four Champion, at Bellator 73 but he was forced to withdraw from the bout due to an injury that occurred during training. *Winner:


Season Seven

Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Seven (September 28, 2012 – December 14, 2012) Bellator's seventh season began on September 28, 2012, with Bellator 74. The season showcased a heavyweight, welterweight, lightweight and featherweight tournament. *Winners:


Season Eight

Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Eight (January 17, 2013 – April 4, 2013) Bellator's eighth season began on January 17, 2013, at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif. The event served as Bellator's premier on
Spike TV Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles. The channel was ...
. Season Eight included featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight and light heavyweight tournaments. *Winners:


Summer Series 2013

Bellator MMA: 2013 Summer Series (June 19, 2013 – July 31, 2013) Bellator's 2013 Summer Series began on June 19, 2013. All three of this season's tournaments were contested as four-man tournaments, as opposed to Bellator's standard eight-man tournament. The change in tournament size was necessary in order to hold multiple tournaments during the summer series' shortened season. *Winners:


Season Nine

Bellator MMA: Season Nine (September 7, 2013 – November 22, 2013) Bellator's Ninth season began on September 7, 2013. For this season the bantamweight and heavyweight tournaments were held as four-man tournaments, while all tournaments were the standard Bellator eight-man tournament. *Winners:


Season Ten

Bellator MMA: Season Ten (February 28, 2014 – May 17, 2014) Bellator's Tenth season began on February 28, 2014. For this season the middleweight and light heavyweight tournaments were held as four-man tournaments, while all tournaments were the standard Bellator eight-man tournament.


Summer Series 2014

Bellator MMA: 2014 Summer Series (June 6, 2014 – July 25, 2014) Bellator's 2014 Summer Series began on June 6, 2014. The 2014 Summer Series featured an eight-man light heavyweight tournament and a series of Season 10 tournament finals.


Season Eleven

Bellator MMA: Season Eleven (September 5, 2014 – November 15, 2014) This was Bellator's final tournament season, as well as the last to be overseen by former CEO & Chairman
Bjorn Rebney Bjorn Rebney is an American businessman who served as chairman and chief executive officer of Bellator MMA from 2008 until June 2014. Background Rebney attended Ohio University on a football scholarship and then attended law school. Rebney di ...
.


See also

* Bellator Kickboxing *
List of Bellator MMA events This is a list of events held and scheduled by Bellator MMA (formerly known as "Bellator Fighting Championships"), a mixed martial arts organization based in the United States. The first event, Bellator 1, took place on April 3, 2009. Upcoming fi ...
* List of Bellator MMA champions *
List of current Bellator fighters List of current Bellator MMA fighters records current Bellator MMA (Bellator) fighters' information, country origins, recent fighter signings and departures, fight schedules and results and the champion of each division. Unlike the UFC, Bellator do ...
*
List of Bellator MMA alumni This is a list of former employees of the professional mixed martial arts promotion Bellator MMA (previously known as Bellator Fighting Championship). The fighters are listed in order by weight class. Alumni See also * List of current Bellat ...


References


External links

* {{Paramount Network Mixed martial arts organizations Mixed martial arts television shows Sports organizations established in 2008 2008 establishments in California Companies based in Santa Monica, California Paramount Global subsidiaries 2011 mergers and acquisitions