Bellator MMA is an American mixed martial arts promotion company based in Santa Monica, California that is owned and operated as a subsidiary of Viacom. It is one of the largest MMA promotion companies in the world and features many of the upper echelon athletes in combat sports. Its first event was held in 2009, with 222 "numbered" events held as of June 2019. The word Bellator is Latin for "warrior". The company was previously known as Bellator Fighting Championships
Bellator MMA currently features notable talents such as Michael Chandler, Ryan Bader, Gegard Mousasi, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Paul Daley, Rory MacDonald, Lyoto Machida, Patrício "Pitbull" Freire, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Michael "Venom" Page, Douglas Lima, and Cris Cyborg, among others.
History
Bellator was founded in 2008 by former Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. Under Rebney's ownership, Bellator featured "The Toughest Tournament in Sports", which was a single-elimination format that awarded the winner of each eight-person or four-person tournament a check for $100,000 and a guaranteed world-title fight against the current Bellator world champion in the applicable weight class. Since Scott Coker took over as president of the promoter, Bellator has stopped with the tournament format and now follows a more traditional MMA format with multiple 1 vs 1 fights placed on multiple cards throughout the year. Bellator switched their cage from a more traditional octagon, to a less defined one. The cage still has eight different angles, making it an octagon, but it looks more circular than its predecessor.
In December 2011, Viacom acquired a majority stake of Bellator and in January 2013, all Bellator events began airing on Spike. Bellator produced nearly 25 live events annually until 2015, as well as shoulder programming including fighter features, highlight shows and reality-based programming.
In May 2014, Bellator hosted the company's inaugural pay-per-view event from the Landers Center. The event featured a Bellator Light Heavyweight Tournament Final fight between Rampage Jackson and King Mo, Michael Chandler vs. Will Brooks for the Lightweight Interim World Title, Alexander Shlemenko vs. Tito Ortiz, the Bellator Season 10 Heavyweight Tournament Final between Alexander Volkov vs. Blagoi Ivanov and a feature fight between Ricky Rainey vs. Michael Page.
Company timeline
Sept. 2008 – Bellator was founded by Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney.
Nov. 2008 – Bellator announces broadcast agreement with ESPN Deportes. Bellator becomes the first promoter to secure live MMA programming on any domestic platform on the ESPN family of networks.
April 2009- Bellator 1 debuts on ESPN Deportes from Hollywood, Florida's Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
May 2009- Toby Imada pulls off incredible inverted triangle submission choke over Jorge Masvidal, creating a viral sensation on YouTube collecting over 1.5 million views.
July 2009- Sports Illustrated calls Bellator "MMA's success story of the year".
Oct. 2009- Bellator announces large-scale agreement with Fox Sports Net, NBC and Telemundo for Bellator's Season 2 & 3.
April 2010- Bellator Season 2 debuts on Fox Sports Net from Hollywood, Florida'a Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
Dec. 2010- Bellator announces English language exclusive broadcast with MTV2, beginning in 2011.
Mar. 2011- Bellator Season 4 debuts on MTV 2.
Oct. 2011- Viacom purchases majority stake in Bellator and announces Bellator will move to Spike.
Nov. 2011- Nov. 19th Michael Chandler & Eddie Alvarez compete in the Lightweight World Title fight that is widely considered 2011's Fight of the Year.
Aug. 2012- Bellator moves corporate offices from Chicago, IL to Newport Beach, CA.
Jan. 2013- Bellator begins airing original shoulder programming including "Bellator 360".
Jan. 2013- Bellator Season 8 premieres Jan. 17 on Spike to over 1.2 million viewers.
Feb. 2013- Bjorn Rebney and Spike President Kevin Kay jointly announce a new Bellator reality show, "Bellator MMA Fight Master".
Sept. 2013–Bellator 100 takes place from Phoenix's Grand Canyon University.
Sept. 2013- Bellator signs multi-year partnership agreement with Fox Sports Latin America giving Bellator the largest MMA distribution deal in Latin America MMA history.
Nov. 2013- Nov. 2nd Chandler vs. Alvarez II delivers 1.4 million viewers on Spike TV and becomes the highest rated MMA TV show on cable during the fall of 2013.
May 2014- Promotion held its first international event in Rama, Canada.
May 2014- Bellator's inaugural pay-per-view from the Landers Center at Bellator 120.
June 2014- Company announces that both Chairman/CEO Bjorn Rebney and President Tim Danaher have left the company.
Tournament format
In the past, Bellator has sporadically featured tournaments, unlike several other MMA promoters. However, in 2015, Bellator President Scott Coker made the decision to drop the 8-man tournament format in favor of smaller tournaments.[2]
Bellator included weight classes from bantamweight (135 pounds) through heavyweight (265 pounds) and tournaments in each weight class were conducted over a three-month period. Each tournament began with the opening round featuring eight fighters in that respective weight class, moved onto the semi-finals and then the finals. For four-man tournaments, only the semi-finals and finals were included. Each tournament was single elimination and there was a one-month break between opening round, semi-finals and finals.
During the tournament, the rules were slightly different from those of a non-tournament fight. Elbow strikes were illegal in the quarterfinal and semifinal tournament bouts due to the high probability of a cut occurring. Elbow strikes were legal in the finals. The tournament final was still three five-minute rounds, since it was not a title fight.
Bellator partnered with Rizin Fighting Federation for the Rizin Fighting World Grand Priz event held on December 29 and 31 2015, sharing King Mo Lawal for the Rizin FF Tournament. The former Pride FC Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko headlined the NYE Rizin FF main event.[3][4]
Bellator does not run regularly scheduled tournaments, however, they are always an option at Scott Coker's discretion.
Broadcast partners
Bellator cards have aired largely on Viacom-owned channels, initially MTV2, but moving to Paramount Network (then known as Spike) in 2013 following the end of the channel's contract with the UFC.[5][6]
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
Bellator MMA currently features notable talents such as Michael Chandler, Ryan Bader, Gegard Mousasi, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Paul Daley, Rory MacDonald, Lyoto Machida, Patrício "Pitbull" Freire, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Michael "Venom" Page, Douglas Lima, and Cris Cyborg, among others.
History
Bellator was founded in 2008 by former Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney. Under Rebney's ownership, Bellator featured "The Toughest Tournament in Sports", which was a single-elimination format that awarded the winner of each eight-person or four-person tournament a check for $100,000 and a guaranteed world-title fight against the current Bellator world champion in the applicable weight class. Since Scott Coker took over as president of the promoter, Bellator has stopped with the tournament format and now follows a more traditional MMA format with multiple 1 vs 1 fights placed on multiple cards throughout the year. Bellator switched their cage from a more traditional octagon, to a less defined one. The cage still has eight different angles, making it an octagon, but it looks more circular than its predecessor.
In December 2011, Viacom acquired a majority stake of Bellator and in January 2013, all Bellator events began airing on Spike. Bellator produced nearly 25 live events annually until 2015, as well as shoulder programming including fighter features, highlight shows and reality-based programming.
In May 2014, Bellator hosted the company's inaugural pay-per-view event from the Landers Center. The event featured a Bellator Light Heavyweight Tournament Final fight between Rampage Jackson and King Mo, Michael Chandler vs. Will Brooks for the Lightweight Interim World Title, Alexander Shlemenko vs. Tito Ortiz, the Bellator Season 10 Heavyweight Tournament Final between Alexander Volkov vs. Blagoi Ivanov and a feature fight between Ricky Rainey vs. Michael Page.
Company timeline
Sept. 2008 – Bellator was founded by Bellator Chairman and CEO Bjorn Rebney.
Nov. 2008 – Bellator announces broadcast agreement with ESPN Deportes. Bellator becomes the first promoter to secure live MMA programming on any domestic platform on the ESPN family of networks.
April 2009- Bellator 1 debuts on ESPN Deportes from Hollywood, Florida's Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
May 2009- Toby Imada pulls off incredible inverted triangle submission choke over Jorge Masvidal, creating a viral sensation on YouTube collecting over 1.5 million views.
July 2009- Sports Illustrated calls Bellator "MMA's success story of the year".
Oct. 2009- Bellator announces large-scale agreement with Fox Sports Net, NBC and Telemundo for Bellator's Season 2 & 3.
April 2010- Bellator Season 2 debuts on Fox Sports Net from Hollywood, Florida'a Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
Dec. 2010- Bellator announces English language exclusive broadcast with MTV2, beginning in 2011.
Mar. 2011- Bellator Season 4 debuts on MTV 2.
Oct. 2011- Viacom purchases majority stake in Bellator and announces Bellator will move to Spike.
Nov. 2011- Nov. 19th Michael Chandler & Eddie Alvarez compete in the Lightweight World Title fight that is widely considered 2011's Fight of the Year.
Aug. 2012- Bellator moves corporate offices from Chicago, IL to Newport Beach, CA.
Jan. 2013- Bellator begins airing original shoulder programming including "Bellator 360".
Jan. 2013- Bellator Season 8 premieres Jan. 17 on Spike to over 1.2 million viewers.
Feb. 2013- Bjorn Rebney and Spike President Kevin Kay jointly announce a new Bellator reality show, "Bellator MMA Fight Master".
Sept. 2013–Bellator 100 takes place from Phoenix's Grand Canyon University.
Sept. 2013- Bellator signs multi-year partnership agreement with Fox Sports Latin America giving Bellator the largest MMA distribution deal in Latin America MMA history.
Nov. 2013- Nov. 2nd Chandler vs. Alvarez II delivers 1.4 million viewers on Spike TV and becomes the highest rated MMA TV show on cable during the fall of 2013.
May 2014- Promotion held its first international event in Rama, Canada.
May 2014- Bellator's inaugural pay-per-view from the Landers Center at Bellator 120.
June 2014- Company announces that both Chairman/CEO Bjorn Rebney and President Tim Danaher have left the company.
Tournament format
In the past, Bellator has sporadically featured tournaments, unlike several other MMA promoters. However, in 2015, Bellator President Scott Coker made the decision to drop the 8-man tournament format in favor of smaller tournaments.[2]
Bellator included weight classes from bantamweight (135 pounds) through heavyweight (265 pounds) and tournaments in each weight class were conducted over a three-month period. Each tournament began with the opening round featuring eight fighters in that respective weight class, moved onto the semi-finals and then the finals. For four-man tournaments, only the semi-finals and finals were included. Each tournament was single elimination and there was a one-month break between opening round, semi-finals and finals.
During the tournament, the rules were slightly different from those of a non-tournament fight. Elbow strikes were illegal in the quarterfinal and semifinal tournament bouts due to the high probability of a cut occurring. Elbow strikes were legal in the finals. The tournament final was still three five-minute rounds, since it was not a title fight.
Bellator partnered with Rizin Fighting Federation for the Rizin Fighting World Grand Priz event held on December 29 and 31 2015, sharing King Mo Lawal for the Rizin FF Tournament. The former Pride FC Heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko headlined the NYE Rizin FF main event.[3][4]
Bellator does not run regularly scheduled tournaments, however, they are always an option at Scott Coker's discretion.
Broadcast partners
Bellator cards have aired largely on Viacom-owned channels, initially MTV2, but moving to Paramount Network (then known as Spike) in 2013 following the end of the channel's contract with the UFC.[5][6]
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
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