| 2023 in Bellator MMA | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Promotion | Bellator MMA |
| First date | February 4, 2023 |
| Last date | November 17, 2023 |
| Events | |
| Total events | 13 |
| Fights | |
| Total fights | 179 |
| Title fights | 15 |
2023 in Bellator MMA was the fifteenth year in the history of Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States.
On September 28, 2022, Bellator president Scott Coker revealed in a The MMA Hour interview that a Lightweight World Grand Prix will take place in 2023. [14] On January 11, 2023, during an appearance on "The MMA Hour," Bellator president Scott Coker revealed the fighters taking part in the tournament. The lineup includes Usman Nurmagomedov, A.J. McKee, Tofiq Musayev, Alexandr Shabliy, Patricky Freire, Mansour Barnaoui, Benson Henderson, and Sidney Outlaw. The tournament kicked off at Bellator 292 on March 10 in San Jose, California. [15]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
 Usman Nurmagomedov (c) | SUB | |||||||||
 Benson Henderson | 1 | |||||||||
| Usman Nurmagomedov (c) [lower-alpha 1] | UD | |||||||||
| Brent Primus | 5 | |||||||||
 Mansour Barnaoui | 5 | |||||||||
| Brent Primus [lower-alpha 2] | UD | |||||||||
 | ||||||||||
| Alexandr Shabliy | ||||||||||
 Tofiq Musayev | 3 | |||||||||
| Alexandr Shabliy | TKO | |||||||||
| Alexandr Shabliy | UD | |||||||||
 Patricky Pitbull | 5 | |||||||||
| Roberto de Souza [lower-alpha 3] | 3 | |||||||||
| Patricky Pitbull | TKO | |||||||||
The eight participants of the tournament were revealed on December 3, 2021. They include current champion Sergio Pettis, the former Rizin and Bellator champion Kyoji Horiguchi, another former Bellator champion in Juan Archuleta, who captured the vacant bantamweight title in 2020 against Patchy Mix, who will also be in the tournament. The final four fighters in the Grand Prix are all ranked in the top six by Bellator at 135 pounds: Magomed Magomedov, James Gallagher, Raufeon Stots and Leandro Higo. [16] [17] [18] Pettis and Gallagher would eventually pull out due to injuries requiring surgery. [19] [20] Due to the pull outs, two wild card qualifier bouts between Josh Hill and Enrique Barzola, with the winner meeting Magomed Magomedov in the opening round, and the second qualifier between Jornel Lugo and Danny Sabatello, which will have the winner face Leandro Higo in the first round of the tournament. [21] Due to Covid, Hill had to pull out of the bout and was replaced by Nikita Mikhailov. [22] [23]
| Wild Cards | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||
| Juan Archuleta | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Raufeon Stots | KO | |||||||||||||
| Raufeon Stots (ic) | SD | |||||||||||||
| Danny Sabatello | 5 | |||||||||||||
| Leandro Higo | 5 | |||||||||||||
| Danny Sabatello | UD | |||||||||||||
| Danny Sabatello | UD | |||||||||||||
| Jornel Lugo | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Raufeon Stots (ic) | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Patchy Mix | KO | |||||||||||||
| Magomed Magomedov | SUB | |||||||||||||
 Enrique Barzola | 4 | |||||||||||||
| Enrique Barzola | UD | |||||||||||||
| Nikita Mikhailov | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Magomed Magomedov | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Patchy Mix | SUB | |||||||||||||
| Patchy Mix | UD | |||||||||||||
 Kyoji Horiguchi | 5 | |||||||||||||
| Title fights in 2023 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Event | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Johnny Eblen (c) | def. | Anatoly Tokov | Decision (unanimous) (50–45, 49–46, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | Bellator 290 | [lower-alpha 1] |
| Heavyweight | Ryan Bader (c) | def. | Fedor Emelianenko | TKO (punches) | 1 | 2:30 | Bellator 290 | [lower-alpha 2] |
| Welterweight | Yaroslav Amosov (c) | def. | Logan Storley (ic) | Decision (unanimous) (50–45, 50–45, 50–45) | 5 | 5:00 | Bellator 291 | [lower-alpha 3] |
| Lightweight | Usman Nurmagomedov (c) | def. | Benson Henderson | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 2:37 | Bellator 292 | [lower-alpha 4] |
| Women's Flyweight | Liz Carmouche (c) | def. | DeAnna Bennett | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 4 | 4:29 | Bellator 294 | [lower-alpha 5] |
| Bantamweight | Patchy Mix | def. | Raufeon Stots (ic) | KO (knee) | 1 | 1:20 | Bellator 295 | [lower-alpha 6] |
| Bantamweight | Sergio Pettis (c) | def. | Patrício Pitbull | Decision (unanimous) (49–46, 50–45, 50–45) | 5 | 5:00 | Bellator 297 | [lower-alpha 7] |
| Light Heavyweight | Vadim Nemkov (c) | def. | Yoel Romero | Decision (unanimous) (49–46, 49–46, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | Bellator 297 | [lower-alpha 8] |
| Flyweight | Kyoji Horiguchi | vs. | Makoto Takahashi | No Contest (accidental eye poke) | 1 | 0:25 | Bellator MMA x Rizin 2 | [lower-alpha 9] |
| Middleweight | Johnny Eblen (c) | def. | Fabian Edwards | KO (punches) | 3 | 0:21 | Bellator 299 | [lower-alpha 10] |
| Women's Flyweight | Liz Carmouche (c) | def. | Ilima-Lei Macfarlane | TKO (leg kick) | 5 | 0:17 | Bellator 300 | [lower-alpha 11] |
| Women's Featherweight | Cris Cyborg (c) | def. | Cat Zingano | TKO (punches) | 1 | 4:01 | Bellator 300 | [lower-alpha 12] |
| Lightweight | Usman Nurmagomedov (c) | vs. | Brent Primus | No Contest (overturned) | 5 | 5:00 | Bellator 300 | [lower-alpha 13] |
| Bantamweight | Patchy Mix (ic) | def. | Sergio Pettis (c) | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 | 1:51 | Bellator 301 | [lower-alpha 14] |
| Welterweight | Jason Jackson | def. | Yaroslav Amosov (c) | KO (punches) | 3 | 2:08 | Bellator 301 | [lower-alpha 15] |
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 one of the best ever, pound-for-pound, to have never fought in the UFC.
Patricky Freire, known professionally as Patricky Pitbull, is a Brazilian mixed martial artist currently competing in Bellator's Lightweight division, where he is a former Bellator Lightweight Champion. He is the older brother of featherweight fighter Patrício Pitbull.
Kyoji Horiguchi is a Japanese mixed martial artist currently competing in Bellator MMA and Rizin FF in the Flyweight division, where he is the current RIZIN Flyweight Champion. He is also the former bantamweight champion in both organizations.
Sergio Jerome Pettis is an American mixed martial artist who is currently signed with Bellator MMA, where he is the former Bellator Bantamweight Champion. Prior to signing with Bellator, Pettis competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he fought in both the Bantamweight and Flyweight divisions.
Juan Archuleta is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the bantamweight divisions of Bellator MMA and Rizin Fighting Federation, where in the latter promotion, he is the former Rizin Bantamweight Champion. A professional MMA competitor since 2013, he has also previously fought for King of the Cage and the World Series of Fighting. Archuleta is also a former Bellator Bantamweight World Champion.
Raufeon Stots is an American professional mixed martial artist and graduated collegiate wrestler. He currently competes in the Bantamweight division of Bellator MMA, where he is a former Interim Bellator Bantamweight Champion. As a wrestler, he is a two-time NCAA Division II champion.
Patrick "Patchy" Mix is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Bantamweight division of Bellator MMA, where he is the current Bellator Bantamweight Champion.
Josh Hill is a Canadian mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division. Hill competed for such promotions as Bellator MMA, the World Series of Fighting (WSOF), Real Xtreme Fighting (RXF), and TKO Major League MMA. Hill also appeared on Season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter.
Bellator 263: Pitbull vs. McKee was a mixed martial arts event produced by Bellator MMA that took place on July 31, 2021, at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The event marked Bellator's first outside of the Mohegan Sun bubble and the first Bellator show on the road.
Magomed Magomedov is a Russian mixed martial artist who competes in Bantamweight division of Bellator MMA.
2022 in Bellator MMA was the fourteenth year in the history of Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States.
Bellator 278: Velasquez vs. Carmouche was a mixed martial arts event produced by Bellator MMA that took place on April 22, 2022, at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States.
Bellator 279: Cyborg vs. Blencowe 2 was a mixed martial arts event produced by Bellator MMA held on April 23, 2022, at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States.
Tofiq Musayev is an Azerbaijani professional mixed martial artist, competing in the Lightweight division of Bellator MMA.
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.
Danny Sabatello is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division of Bellator MMA.
Usman Magomednabiyevich Nurmagomedov is a Russian professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Lightweight division of Bellator MMA, where he is the current Bellator Lightweight Champion. He has previously competed in the UAE Warriors and Eagle Fighting Championship. He is the younger brother of UFC fighter Umar Nurmagomedov and a cousin of former UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Bellator 292: Nurmagomedov vs. Henderson was a mixed martial arts event produced by Bellator MMA that took place on March 10, 2023, at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, United States.
Bellator MMA x Rizin 2 and Super Rizin 2 was a mixed martial arts event being co-promoted by Bellator MMA and the Rizin Fighting Federation that took place on July 30, 2023, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Bellator Champions Series: Nurmagomedov vs. Shabliy is a mixed martial arts event produced by Bellator MMA, that will take place on May 17, 2024, at Accor Arena in Paris, France.