Bellator lightweight and former UFC lightweight title contender Josh Thomson was one of the first and highest profile fighters to jump ship from the UFC to Bellator last year. Now 2-0 in his new promotion, Thomson spoke exclusively to BJPENN.com Rapid Fire and discussed who he plans on fighting next and why: “I think right...
King Mo Lawal has been a ‘moneyweight’ fighter ever since his humble beginnings back in Strikeforce. The brash light heavyweight has competed several times at heavyweight throughout his career, and appears to be interested in yet another with recently unretired Shane Carwin. King Mo spoke about a potential match-up with the heavy handed former UFC...
With Chael Sonnen’s new Bellator contract, it definitely won’t pay to fail another drug test. In fact, one failed test under the Bellator banner would leave him without a fight purse as well as a $500,000 fine, according to ‘The American Gangster’ himself. Sonnen discussed his new Bellator contract and went in depth as to...
Undefeated Bellator fighter Anastasia Yankova (4-0 MMA) picked up a split-decision victory over Veta Arteaga at Bellator 161 this past Friday night. The stunning 25-year-old Russian fighter was definitely feeling the after effects of her three-round war with Arteaga, as she posted the following photo to her Instagram one day after the fight: This is...
The American Gangster has arrived! Welcome to #BellatorNation @chaelsonnen! #Bellator161 pic.twitter.com/P9Lcbir1yC — Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) September 17, 2016 Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen recently announced that he had ended his MMA retirement, and had signed an exclusive, multi-fight contract with Bellator MMA. Sonnen, who had remained adamant on his retirement throughout the course of...
Big news hit the MMA community late Thursday when the Associated Press released the news that former UFC title contender Chael Sonnen freshly inked a deal with Bellator MMA. Sonnen, who just became eligible to fight again after a two-year suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission for testing positive for multiple banned substances admitted his...
Last night, news broke that former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight title challenger Chael Sonnen had signed with Bellator MMA. Shortly thereafter, Sonnen took to Twitter to address this surprising move, while several notable reporters announced that the fan favorite mouth-piece had already called for a bout with Bellator light heavyweight Tito Ortiz. The Rulers...
Bellator MMA will be getting a ton of memorable quotes now that “The American Gangster,” Chael Sonnen has signed a multi-fight deal. The former UFC title contender and Bellator MMA President Scott Coker were on a conference call with the media on Friday, a day after the news of Sonnen’s signing was released by the...
Thursday evening, news broke that former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight title challenger Chael Sonnen had ended his retirement, and signed an exclusive multi-fight contract with Bellator MMA. No immediate word was given in regress to when Sonnen would be making his Bellator MMA debut, however ‘The American Gangster’ was campaigning for a fight with...
Thursday evening, it was announced that former UfC title challenger Chael Sonnen had officially ended his retirement, and signed an exclusive multi-fight contract with Bellator MMA. At the time of the announcement, there had been no word given as to when Sonnen would be making his Bellator MMA debut, however it was revealed that Sonnen...
This week, news surfaced that former UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen had ended his retirement, and signed with Bellator MMA. Sonnen, who recently celebrated the end of his 2-year suspension, remained adamant over the course of the last 2 years that he is indeed retired. When ‘The American Gangster’ announced that he was ending his...
Former UFC title contender Chael Sonnen has signed with Bellator MMA, according to the Associated Press. The 39-year-old MMA veteran is fresh off a two-year suspension after testing positive for multiple banned substances in 2014. According to the AP report, Sonnen signed a multiyear, multi-fight deal with the promotional company. Despite repeatedly saying that he...
The world is still abuzz from the failed UFC debut of former WWE star CM Punk, who was abruptly tapped out by the young Mickey Gall on the main card of UFC 203. In the days following Punk’s Octagon slip, many of the game’s top fighters have offered up their thoughts on the whole ordeal....
British welterweight Michael ‘Venom’ Page may fight for Bellator, but with a handful of high-profile UFC fighters signing with the Spike-based promotion recently, MVP can’t help but think of what a Bellator vs. UFC card would look like. While the Bellator/UFC discussion is at an all time high with Rory MacDonald signing with Bellator last week, MVP was asked about his...
When longtime UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald officially signed with Bellator MMA, many members of the MMA community began criticizing ‘The Red King’ for the move, stating that MacDonald won’t be facing as tough of competition in Bellator as he did in the UFC. MacDonald took to Twitter to address the criticism: ppl sayin bellator doesnt...
One of the biggest stories of the last week has been Rory MacDonald’s move from the UFC to Bellator, where a long list of exciting new matchups now await him. Now that the dust has settled, Bellator has released some awesome, behind the scenes footage of MacDonald’s first moments as a Bellator fighter. Watch the video above to...
Over the last few years, former WWE star Bobby Lashley (14-2) has quietly emerged as one of Bellator’s top heavyweight talents. At Bellator 162, which will go down on October 21 in Memphis, Lashley will attempt to continue his march toward Bellator title contention when he takes on Josh Appelt (12-5). The two will meet in...
Bellator lightweight Benson Henderson made $75k in a winning effort over Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire on Friday in his second fight with the Spike-based promotion since leaving the UFC. But disclosed salary records show ‘Smooth’ made $117k in his final UFC fight in a split-decision victory over Jorge Masvidal in 2015. Benson’s $75k salary from Bellator 160 did not...
On Monday afternoon, Ariel Helwani returned to our screens with the latest episode of The MMA Hour. One of this episode’s many big-name guests was Bellator lightweight champ Rory MacDonald, who joined Helwani to discuss his time with the UFC and his move to Bellator MMA. According to the former welterweight title contender, nothing was certain after...
Last Friday, in the main event of Bellator 160, former Bellator featherweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire took on former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson for the chance to fight Michael Chandler for the Bellator lightweight title. Unfortunately, the bout turned into a bit of a disaster for the Brazilian slugger. Despite a strong first round,...
Former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald recently inked himself a deal with Bellator MMA. MacDonald talked about his decision to leave the UFC at the Bellator 160 press conference (watch here). Following the news that Rory had signed with Bellator MMA, former UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione, who also signed with the Viacom-owned promotion, sent...
Former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald made waves last week when he announced that he had ‘jumped ship’ and signed with Bellator MMA. The top ranked welterweight fighter revealed his reasons for leaving the UFC during last night’s Bellator 160 press conference (watch here). MacDonald’s teammate and former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre had...
News surfaced earlier this week that UFC veteran Rory MacDonald had decided to sign with Bellator MMA after opting to test free agency following his ‘UFC Ottawa’ scrap with Stephen Thompson earlier this summer. While the announcement of MacDonald signing with Bellator was all but official given the fact that the UFC declined to match...
Chinzo Machida, the brother of former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, scored a brutal first-round knockout victory over Mario Navarro in his Bellator debut this evening. Chinzo connected with a huge uppercut that sent Navarro crashing to the canvas just about three minutes into the opening round. The win served as Chinzo’s third straight...
Wednesday morning, news surfaced that the UFC had removed Rory MacDonald from their official welterweight rankings. This led to much speculation regarding MacDonald signing with Bellator MMA, given that Bellator MMA President Scott Coker stated recently that negotiations with MacDonald were going well. Now, FrontRowBrian has confirmed in addition to FloCombat, revealing that the UFC...
UFC veteran Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone has had his gripes with pay in the UFC. Now that the fan favorite has just finished the last fight on his UFC contract, there are some rumblings that Bellator MMA is offering “Cowboy” a big raise to jump ship. From a reliable source, Bellator offered Cowboy Cerrone $350k/fight to...
Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson made a bold move to leave the UFC for Bellator for what he believes is a better overall package. In doing so, Henderson said on The MMA Hour recently that his move is already reassuring him of the choice in terms of sponsor pay. “For my last Bellator fight,...
Undefeated Russian star Anastasia Yankova will be making her U.S. debut at Bellator 161 on Sept. 16 in Cedar Park, Texas. Bellator announced on Thursday that Yankova will meet Veta Arteaga in a flyweight competition. Yankova holds a 3-0 record and last fought Anjela Pink at Bellator 152 in Italy back in April. The former...
