2015 in Bellator MMA was the seventh year in the history of

Bellator MMA Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) was an American mixed martial arts promotion (entertainment), promotion founded in 2008 by Bjorn Rebney and operated until 2025. The promotion takes its name from ''wikt:bellator, bellātor ...

, a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

promotion based in the United States. Bellator held 16 events in 2015.

Background

In June 2014, Founder 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 did l ...

parted with the company. Former

Strikeforce Strike Force may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games *Strike Force (video game), ''Strike Force'' (video game), a 1991 arcade game *''Commandos: Strike Force'', a 2006 video game *''Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce'', a 2009 video game *' ...

founder Scott Coker was announced as the new President of Bellator MMA. Beginning this year, Bellator would drop its original, weekly, seasonal tournament format and adopt a traditional monthly schedule. 2015 would also see a collaboration between Bellator and kickboxing promotion Glory, both of which aired fight cards on

Spike TV Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel and the flagship property of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, who operates it through the MTV Entertainment Group. The network's headquarters are locate ...

. Announced in June, Bellator MMA & Glory: Dynamite 1 (or Bellator 142: Dynamite 1) was broadcast live on September 19.

Bellator 132

Bellator 132: Pitbull vs. Straus 2 took place January 16, 2015 at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. Background A Bellator Featherweight World Championship rematch between

Patrício Pitbull Patrício Andre de Sousa Freire (born July 7, 1987), known professionally as Patrício Pitbull, is a Brazilian professional mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist currently competing in the Featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Champi ...

and Daniel Straus headlined the event. The two originally met in a closely contested fight at Bellator 45 on May 21, 2011, with Pitbull winning the bout via unanimous decision. Results , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Preliminary Card (Spike.com) , -

Bellator 133

Bellator 133: Shlemenko vs. Manhoef took place February 13, 2015 at Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. Background This event was headlined with a bout between former Bellator Middleweight Champion Alexander Shlemenko and Melvin Manhoef. Results , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Preliminary Card (Spike.com) , - , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Postliminary Card (Dark Bouts) , -

Bellator 134

Bellator 134: Newton vs. McGeary took place February 27, 2015 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The event aired live during prime time on Spike TV, and was followed up with an encore of the entire event. Background The main card of Bellator 134 was announced on the air during Bellator 131. President Scott Coker announced the main card fights would feature fighters representing the United States taking on fighters representing the United Kingdom. The event was headlined by a Light Heavyweight Championship match between current champion Emanuel Newton and Bellator 2014 Summer Series Light Heavyweight Tournament Winner Liam McGeary. Douglas Lima was originally scheduled to defend his Welterweight title against

Paul Daley Paul Anthony Daley (born 21 February 1983) is a British former mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and kickboxer. A professional competitor from 2003 to 2022, Daley competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, Bellator MMA, Bella ...

on this card. However, in early January 2015, he pulled out of the bout due to an injury.

Michael Page Michael Jerome Reece-Pagewkaassociation.com, Retrieved 28 August 2017. (born 7 April 1987), known as Michael "Venom" Page or MVP, is an English professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Welterweight and Middleweight divi ...

was expected to face

Curtis Millender Curtis Millender (born December 1, 1987) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Middleweight division. A professional competitor since 2013, Millender has formerly competed in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Bellator MMA ...

but withdrew due to a cut over his left eye and was replaced by Brennan Ward. As a result of the move, Ward's original opponent,

Jesse Juarez Jesse Juarez (born May 8, 1981) is an American former mixed martial artist currently competing in the Welterweight division of the Absolute Championship Berkut. A professional competitor since 2006, Juarez has also formerly competed for Strik ...

, was pulled from the card altogether. Results , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Preliminary Card (Spike.com) , -

Bellator 135

Bellator 135: Warren vs. Galvao 2 took March 27, 2015 at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. Background This event headlined the Bellator Bantamweight Championship between champion Joe Warren and challenger Marcos Galvao. Mike Richman was expected to face Eduardo Dantas but forced out by injury. As a result, L.C. Davis vs. Hideo Tokoro elevated to the co-main event. Results , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Preliminary Card (Spike.com) , -

Bellator 136

Bellator 136: Brooks vs. Jansen took place on April 10, 2015 at Bren Events Center in Irvine, California. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. Background This event was headlined by Lightweight Championship match between current champion Will Brooks and Season 7 Lightweight Tournament Winner Dave Jansen. The co-main event was a middleweight fight between longtime kickboxer

Joe Schilling Joseph Francis Schilling (born January 13, 1984) is an American professional Muay Thai kickboxer and mixed martial artist who most recently competed for Bellator Kickboxing in the Middleweight division, and in the Middleweight division for Bell ...

and Rafael Carvalho. Results , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Preliminary Card (Spike.com) , - , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Postliminary Card (Dark Bouts) , -

Bellator 137

Bellator 137: Halsey vs. Grove took place May 15, 2015 at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. Background The event was expected to be headlined by a

Bellator Middleweight Championship Bellator MMA (formerly known as "Bellator Fighting Championships") was an American mixed martial arts promotion, and the following is a history of its champions in each weight class. At the time of its inception in 2008, CEO Bjorn Rebney founded ...

bout between then champion Brandon Halsey and

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...

veteran

Kendall Grove Kendall Grove (born November 12, 1982) is an American mixed martial artist who is currently signed to Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 2003, he has also competed for the Bellator MMA, UFC, KSW, ProElite, King ...

. However, Halsey came in overweight at the weigh-ins, weighing in at 188.1 lb. This prompted Bellator to create a stipulation that if Halsey won the bout, the championship would be vacated. If Grove won the bout, he would become the undisputed champion. The co-main event featured a Bellator Bantamweight Championship title eliminator bout between former champion Eduardo Dantas and Mike Richman. This bout was briefly in jeopardy as Richman missed weight and Dantas agreed for the fight to continue under the condition that Richman wouldn't weight more than 147 pounds on fight night, but Richman declined. However, both fighters' camps agreed to new stipulations the day of the fight. A.J. Matthews was expected to face Ben Reiter at the event. However, Matthews was forced out of the bout and was replaced by

and UFC veteran Benji Radach. Results , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Preliminary Card (Spike.com) , - , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Postliminary Card (Dark Bouts) , -

Bellator 138

Bellator 138: Unfinished Business took place on June 19, 2015 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri and was broadcast live in prime time on Spike TV, attracting an average 1.7 million viewers. Background The event was headlined by a heavyweight bout between

combat sport A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a 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 opponent (''knock ...

s veterans

Kimbo Slice Kevin Ferguson (February 8, 1974 – June 6, 2016), better known as Kimbo Slice, was a Bahamian-American mixed martial artist, professional boxer, and actor. Originally a bare-knuckle boxer, he became noted for his role in mutual combat stre ...

and

Ken Shamrock Kenneth Wayne Shamrock ( né Kilpatrick; born February 11, 1964) is an American retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to WWE under a Legends contract, under the ring name Ken Shamrock. He is best known ...

. The two were originally expected to fight on October 4, 2008 at the

BankAtlantic Center Amerant Bank Arena (previously known as the National Car Rental Center, Office Depot Center, BankAtlantic Center, BB&T Center, and FLA Live Arena) is an indoor arena in Sunrise, Florida, United States. It is the home venue for the Florida Panth ...

Sunrise, Florida Sunrise is a city in central-western Broward County, Florida, Broward County, Florida, United States, and is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. The population was 97,335 at the time of the 2020 census. History Early history In ...

as part of

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

' ''Saturday Night Fights'' at EliteXC: Heat. However, Shamrock received a cut to the left eye during a warm-up only hours before the fight was to take place. That bout was eventually rescheduled for this event. The co-main event was originally expected to feature a Bellator Featherweight Championship bout between current champion

Patrício Freire Patricio in Spanish, or Patrício in Portuguese, is a male given name equivalent to Patrick in English. The Spanish name is pronounced with the stress on the same first i as Portuguese, but an accent is not needed because this follows normal ru ...

and former WSOF Featherweight champion Georgi Karakhanyan. However, Karakhanyan was forced out of the bout due to an injury and was replaced by Season 10 Featherweight Tournament winner

Daniel Weichel Daniel Weichel (born November 22, 1984) is a German former professional mixed martial artist who last competed in the Featherweight division for Bellator MMA. He has also competed in M-1 Global and Shooto. Background Born and raised in Germany, ...

Bobby Lashley Franklin Roberto Lashley (born July 16, 1976) is an American professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of The Hurt Syndicate and is one-half of the AEW World Tag Team C ...

was originally scheduled to face James Thompson at this event. However, on June 10, it was announced that Thompson pulled out of the bout due to injury and was replaced by Dan Charles. Bellator 138 was the highest rated Bellator event to date before Bellator 149. It did an average of 1.6 million viewers for the whole event and a peak of 2.4 million during the Kimbo Slice and Ken Shamrock fight with a DVR peak of 2.9 million. The previous high was Bellator 131 which did 1.2 million average for the entire event and a peak of 2 million during the Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar fight and a DVR peak of 2.2 million. Results , - , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Preliminary Card (Spike.com) , - , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Postliminary Card (Dark Bouts) , -

Bellator 139

Bellator 139: Kongo vs. Volkov took place June 26, 2015 at Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane, Kansas. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. Background This event was headlined by a heavyweight bout between

veteran

Cheick Kongo Cheick Kongo (born May 17, 1975) is a French mixed martial artist and former kickboxer who fights in the Heavyweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2001, he has also competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Bellator. ...

and former Bellator Heavyweight Champion Alexander Volkov. It was also Hisaki Kato's Bellator Debut. Results , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Preliminary Card (Spike.com) , - , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Postliminary Card (Dark Bouts) , -

Bellator 140

Bellator 140: Lima vs. Koreshkov took place July 17, 2015 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. Background This event was headlined by a Welterweight Championship fight between current champion Douglas Lima and two-time tournament winner Andrey Koreshkov. Results , - ! colspan="8" style="background-color: #ccf; color: #000080; text-align: center;" , Preliminary Card (Spike.com) , -

Bellator 141

Bellator 141: Guillard vs. Girtz took place August 28, 2015 at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. Background The event was headlined by a lightweight bout between debuting

veteran Melvin Guillard and

veteran Brandon Girtz. Results

Bellator 142

Bellator 143

Bellator 143: Warren vs. Davis took place on September 25, 2015 at the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. Background The event was headlined by a bantamweight bout between former Bellator Bantamweight champion Joe Warren and WEC veteran LC Davis.

Ryan Couture Ryan Duane Couture (born August 27, 1982) is a former American professional mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Welterweight (MMA), Welterweight division of Bellator MMA. A professional competitor since 2009 ...

was scheduled to face Nick Gonzalez on this card. However, Gonzalez weighed in at 172.75 pounds, over sixteen pounds past the lightweight limit, and the fight was cancelled. Results

Bellator 144

Bellator 144: Halsey vs. Carvalho took place October 23, 2015 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. Background The main event featured a vacant

bout between undefeated former champion Brandon Halsey and top contender Rafael Carvalho. Results

Bellator 145

Bellator 145: Vengeance took place November 6, 2015 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. Background The event was headlined by a Featherweight Championship trilogy fight between current champion

and former champion

Daniel Mason-Straus Daniel Mason-Straus (born July 27, 1984), is an American former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Featherweight division. He previously competed in Bellator MMA, where he is the former two-time Bellator Featherweight Champi ...

. The co-main event featured a Lightweight Championship fight between current champion Will Brooks and Season 10 Lightweight Tournament winner

Marcin Held Marcin Held (born January 18, 1992) is a Polish mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist who competes in the Lightweight (MMA), Lightweight division of Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (KSW). He is currently ranked #5 in the Konfrontacj ...

. Michael Chandler rematched David Rickels, whom he knocked out at Bellator 97 in July 2013.

looked to avenge a contentious May 2012 Super Fight League decision loss to James Thompson. Results

Bellator 146

Bellator 146: Kato vs. Manhoef took place November 20, 2015 at the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. Background The event was headlined by a middleweight bout between Hisaki Kato and

veteran Melvin Manhoef. Results

Bellator 147

Bellator 147: Thomson vs. Villaseca took place December 4, 2015 at San Jose State University in San Jose, California. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. Results

References

External links

Bellator
{{Bellator Tournament Events 2015 in mixed martial arts Bellator MMA by year