Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Four 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.[1] This was the first season to air on MTV2.[2]
Bellator 35 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on March 5, 2011 at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, California.[3] The card kicked off Bellator Season Four and featured opening round fights in the Season Four Welterweight Tournament. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.[2]
Background
On December 14, 2010, Bellator and MTV2 announced a three-year deal to broadcast Bellator's tournaments and special events.[2] This will be the first Bellator event to air on MTV2.
Bellator's Women's Strawweight Champion Zoila Frausto fought in a non-title catchweight bout against Karina Hallinan.[4]
At this event Steve Carl was expected to fight Jay Hieron in the opening round of the welterweight tournament. However, Carl injured himself during training and was removed from the tournament. His replacement was Anthony Lapsley.
Poppies Martinez was expected to fight at this event,[5] but a bout never materialized.
The event drew an average of around 200,000 viewers on MTV2. Which helped MTV2 in several key advertising demographics including, an 83 percent increase among men aged 18 to 49, an 80 percent increase among men 18 to 34, and a 133 percent increase among men aged 25 to 34.[6]
Toby Imada was originally scheduled to face French fighter Ferrid Kheder; however, Kheder refused to weigh in and Josh Shockley was moved up from the preliminary card to face Imada.[9]
Shockley's original opponent, Kelvin Hackney, still weighed in, but was pulled off the card and paid his show money and win bonus. Hackney was expected to fight at Bellator 45.[10]
The event drew an estimated 230,000 viewers on MTV2.[11]
Bellator 37 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on March 19, 2011 at the Lucky Star Casino in Concho, Oklahoma.[12] The card featured opening round fights in the Bellator Season Four Featherweight Tournament. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2. The event drew an estimated 173,000 viewers on MTV2.[11]
Bellator 38 was mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on March 26, 2011 at Harrah's Tunica Hotel and Casino in Tunica, Mississippi.[13] The card featured the opening round fights in the Bellator Season Four Light Heavyweight Tournament. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
Background
This event showcased the inaugural light heavyweight tournament.[13]
Originally, Blagoy Ivanov was set to fight John Brown on the undercard. However, Brown pulled out of the bout and was replaced by Johnathan Ivey. Ivey was then pulled off the card for a suspension by the Georgia Athletic Commission.[14] Ivanov instead fought William Penn.
The event drew an estimated 150,000 viewers on MTV2.[11]
Bellator 40 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on April 9, 2011 at First Council Casino in Newkirk, Oklahoma.[19] The card featured fights in the Welterweight and Lightweight Bellator Season Four Tournament. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
Background
Bellator Welterweight champion Ben Askren competed in a non-title bout against Nick Thompson at this event.[19]
A lightweight semifinal bout between Toby Imada and Patricky Freire was originally set to take place on this card. However, the fight was moved to Bellator 39 and replaced with the welterweight semifinal fight between Brent Weedman and Jay Hieron. The Hieron-Weedman fight was rescheduled because Weedman needed to receive clearance for a facial laceration suffered in his Bellator 35 victory over Dan Hornbuckle.[20]
Former Sengoku fighter Ronnie Mann was expected to make his Bellator debut at this event.[21] However, visa issues kept Mann from entering the United States and his fight has been pushed back to the Bellator 42 card.[22]
The event drew an estimated 218,000 viewers on MTV2.[11]
Bellator 41 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships on April 16, 2011 at Cocopah Resort and Casino in Yuma, Arizona.[23] The card featured two semi-final fights in the Bellator Season Four Featherweight Tournament. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
Background
Tony Johnson was expected to fight Carlos Flores at the event, but for unknown reasons was replaced by Rudy Aguilar.
The event drew a season low of 132,000 average viewers on MTV2.[24]
Bellator 42 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on April 23, 2011 at the Lucky Star Casino in Concho, Oklahoma.[25] The card featured the semi-finals in the Bellator Season Four Light Heavyweight Tournament. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
Background
Bellator Heavyweight champion Cole Konrad was scheduled to compete in a non-title "super fight" bout against Paul Buentello at this event.[26] However, it was revealed that Buentello had to pull out of the bout due to a back injury.[27]
Former Sengoku fighter Ronnie Mann was expected to make his Bellator debut at Bellator 40.[21] However, visa issues kept Mann from entering the United States and the fight was moved to this card.[22]
Chris Guillen was originally set to fight Mark Holata, but Guillen suffered a last minute injury and was replaced by Tracy Willis.[28]
The event drew an estimated 199,000 viewers on MTV2.[29]
Results
Main Card
Light Heavyweight Semifinal bout: Rich Hale vs. D.J. Linderman
Hale defeated Linderman via split decision (29–28, 28–29, 29–28).
Nogueira defeated Spoon via unanimous decision (30–27, 29–28. 29–28).
Local Feature Fights
Featherweight bout: Owen Evinger vs. Brandon Shelton
Shelton defeated Evinger via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:35 of round 1. This bout was fought after the main broadcast was finished due to time constraints.
Catchweight (190 lb) bout: Chris Bell vs. Jared Hess
Hess defeated Bell via submission (triangle choke) at 1:40 of round 1. The bout aired on the main broadcast.
Bellator 43 was a mixed martial arts held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on May 7, 2011 at the First Council Casino in Newkirk, Oklahoma.[30] The card featured the final fight in the Bellator Season Four Welterweight Tournament. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
Bellator 44 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on May 14, 2011, at Harrah's Resort.[34] The card featured the final fight in the Bellator Season Four Lightweight Tournament. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
Background
EliteXC and Ring of Combat veteran James Jones was expected to fight at this event, but a bout did not materialize.[35]
Lyman Good was scheduled to face Dan Hornbuckle in a welterweight bout. However, on May 6, Good pulled out of the fight due to an injury.[36]
A scheduled bout between Anthony Morrison and Bryan Goldsby was canceled due to Morrison weighing-in 10 pounds over weight.[37]
The event drew a season high of 325,000 average viewers on MTV2.[38]
Edward Alvarez is an American mixed martial artist who currently fights for ONE Championship. He formerly competed in the UFC and Bellator MMA, winning world titles in each: the UFC Lightweight Championship once and the Bellator Lightweight World Championship twice. Alvarez was the first Lightweight champion in Bellator MMA. He has also competed for the Japanese DREAM promotion, where he fought in their inaugural Lightweight Grand Prix. Alvarez also fought once for ProElite's EliteXC promotion.
Xtreme Fighting Championships (XFC) is a premier international mixed martial arts (MMA) organization based in Destin, Florida, Michigan, with offices throughout the United States and South America. The XFC showcases both male and female fighters, advocates young MMA fighters, and produces stadium fight cards in various locations in the United States and South America, including Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Brazil, São Paulo, Campinas, and Araraquara.
Bellator MMA is an American mixed martial arts promotion founded in 2008 and based in Santa Monica, California owned and operated as a subsidiary of ViacomCBS. It is one of the largest combat sport promotions in the world and the second largest in the United States. The promotion takes its name from bellātor, the Latin word for "warrior".
Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Three was the third installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships, which started on August 12, 2010. Mixed martial arts tournaments were held in multiple weight classes, including the bantamweight division, heavyweight division and women's division at 115 pounds. Also some Bellator champions defended their titles against the Bellator season two tournament winners during the season.
Patrício "Pitbull" Freire is a Brazilian mixed martial artist currently competing in Bellator MMA where he is the current Bellator Lightweight Champion and two-time and current Bellator Featherweight Champion. He is the younger brother of lightweight fighter Patricky Freire. He is the second-ever simultaneous two-weight champion in Bellator MMA history. As of March 29, 2021 he is #1 in the Bellator men's pound-for-pound rankings.
Georgi Karakhanyan is a Russian-born Armenian-American professional mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Lightweight division of Bellator MMA. A professional competitor since 2006, Karakhanyan has also formerly competed for the Absolute Championship Berkut, World Series of Fighting, DREAM, Tachi Palace Fights, and King of the Cage. Karakhanyan is also the former WSOF Featherweight Champion.
Pat Curran is a retired American mixed martial artist, and a former two-time Bellator Featherweight World Champion. He is the cousin of World Extreme Cagefighting veteran Jeff Curran and fought primarily with Xtreme Fighting Organization (XFO) before signing with Bellator, where he is the winner of Bellator Season Two Lightweight Tournament and the Bellator 2011 Summer Series. He is currently the #15 Featherweight in the world by fightmatrix.com.
Luis Palomino is a Peruvian-American mixed martial artist who competes in the Lightweight division and is currently signed to the World Series of Fighting and Absolute Championship Berkut. He previously fought in the featherweight division. He has been a professional MMA competitor since 2006.
Tachi Palace Fights (TPF) was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion which hosted events at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California. Matchmaker for TPF was former fighter Richard Goodman.
The 2011 M-1 Challenge season was the fourth season of mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting presented by the M-1 Global promotion. The season began on March 5.
Daniel Mason-Straus, is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Featherweight division of Bellator MMA, and is the former two-time Bellator Featherweight Champion. A professional competitor since 2009, Straus has also formerly competed for Shark Fights.
Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Five was the fifth and latest installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships, and began on September 10, 2011. Mixed martial arts tournaments will were held in multiple weight classes, including the bantamweight, welterweight, middleweight, and heavyweight divisions.
Bellator Fighting Championships: 2011 Summer Series was the first installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships Summer Series which started in June 2011. A Mixed martial arts tournament was held in the Featherweight weight class.
David Rickels is an American professional mixed martial artist who is currently competing in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. A professional since 2010, he is a 23-fight veteran of the Bellator MMA, and won the Season Eight Lightweight Tournament.
Saad Awad, born June 7, 1983) is an American mixed martial artist competing in Bellator's lightweight division. A professional competitor since 2006, Awad has formerly competed for Strikeforce and King of the Cage.
Joe Taimanglo is a Guamanian professional mixed martial artist of Chamorro ethnicity who competes in Bellator's Bantamweight division. A professional competitor since 2004, Taimanglo has also formerly competed for Pacific Xtreme Combat and DEEP.
Francisco Derek Campos is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Featherweight division. A professional competitor since 2009, Campos has competed for Bellator MMA, Shark Fights and King of the Cage, and is the former King of the Cage Light Welterweight Champion.
Goiti Yamauchi is a Japanese-born Brazilian mixed martial artist who currently competes in the Lightweight division for Bellator MMA. As of March 29, 2021, he is #3 in the Bellator Lightweight Rankings.
Emmanuel Sanchez is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in Bellator's Featherweight division. A professional competitor since 2011, Sanchez has also formerly competed for the Resurrection Fighting Alliance. As of March 29, 2021, he is #2 in the Bellator Featherweight Rankings.
2016 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.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Chris Lozano vs. 
Jim Wallhead vs. 
