Bellator MMA is an American mixed martial arts promotion founded in 2008 by Bjorn Rebney. The promotion takes its name from bellātor, the Latin word for "warrior". Bellator's first event was held in 2009, and the promotion has since held 301 "numbered" events.
Marlon Sandro is a retired Brazilian mixed martial artist. He has competed for Bellator, Pancrase, Shooto, and World Victory Road. He is the former King of Pancrase Featherweight Champion and former Sengoku Featherweight Champion.
Joseph Angel Soto is an American professional mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2006, Soto has also formerly competed for Bellator Fighting Championships, where he was the inaugural Bellator Featherweight World Champion and first ever winner of their Featherweight Tournament, and for Tachi Palace Fights where he is the former Tachi Palace Fights Bantamweight Champion.
2010 in Bellator MMA was the second installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships -produced series. It started on April 8, 2010, and ended on June 24, 2010. Tournaments were held in the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions. The winner of each tournament will get a shot at the current Bellator Champion in his respective weight class. Three of the four current Bellator Champions also fought during this season in "Super Fights". These non-tournament, non-title catch-weight fights were to help prepare the champions in defending their titles against the winners of this season's tournaments sometime in the third season.
Patrício Freire, known professionally as Patrício Pitbull, is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in Bellator MMA where he is the current three-time Bellator Featherweight Champion and former Bellator Lightweight Champion. He is the younger brother of lightweight fighter Patricky Pitbull. He is the second-ever simultaneous two-weight champion in Bellator MMA history, and is widely considered to be the best Bellator fighter of all-time. He is also considered to be one of the best ever, pound-for-pound, to have never fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
Luis Vicente Palomino is a Peruvian-American mixed martial artist and bare-knuckle fighter who is the current Lightweight champion Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. He became the BKFC's first "double champ" after winning the Welterweight title and defending his Lightweight title in 2022. As of 5 September 2024, he is #2 in the BKFC men's pound-for-pound rankings. He also competed for the World Series of Fighting and Absolute Championship Berkut.
Marcin Held is a Polish mixed martial artist who competes in the Lightweight division of Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (KSW). He is currently ranked #5 in the KSW Lightweight rankings. He formerly competed in the Lightweight division of the Absolute Championship Berkut, Professional Fighters League, and Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional MMA competitor since 2008, Held has competed frequently in his home country of Poland and is highly touted by the media, often being regarded as "the prodigy of Polish MMA". He fought in Bellator MMA from 2010 to 2016, challenging for the Bellator Lightweight Championship in 2015.
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 Featherweight. There was also an inaugural Light Heavyweight Tournament taking place during this season, which crowned the first Light Heavyweight Champion in Bellator. This was the first season to air on MTV2.
2012 in Bellator MMA was the sixth installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships, which began on March 9, 2012. The sixth season of Bellator was originally scheduled to begin on March 2, 2012. However, the debut was pushed back a week so it began with the show on March 9, 2012.
Bubba Jenkins is an American mixed martial artist and former amateur wrestler. He currently competes in the featherweight division of Professional Fighters League. He has also notably competed for Bellator MMA, Absolute Championship Berkut and Brave Combat Federation, where he was a former champion. As an amateur wrestler, Jenkins was a freestyle junior World Champion and an NCAA Division I champion.
The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is an American mixed martial arts league founded by venture capitalist Donn Davis in 2017 and launched in 2018, following the acquisition and restructuring of the former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) promotion in 2017 by MMAX Investment Partners. It is the first major MMA organization in which individual athletes compete in a regular season, post-season and championship, rather than on a year-round basis.
2013 in Bellator MMA was the eighth installment of the Bellator MMA, which began on January 17, 2013 and ended on April 4, 2013.
2016 in Bellator MMA was the eighth year in the history of Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promoter based in the United States. Bellator held 23 events in 2016.
2018 in Bellator MMA was the tenth year in the history of Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. Bellator held 23 events in 2018.
The year 2014 was the 4th year in the history of the ONE Championship, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Singapore.
2020 in Bellator MMA was the twelfth year in the history of Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. Bellator held 18 events in 2020.
The year 2022 was the 19th year in the history of the Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Poland. 2022 will begin with KSW 66. For 2021, besides its own channels KSW announced official distribution partnerships with Viaplay and Fight Network, to broadcast the promotion's Pay-per-view events.
Bellator 288: Nemkov vs. Anderson 2 was a mixed martial arts event produced by Bellator MMA that took place on November 18, 2022, at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
