Bellator is Gone

And I For One Will Miss it

MMA
Bellator MMA 2008–2023

Bellator MMA is gone for good.

It’s nothing we didn’t know already, but with the active champions and fighters that the PFL picked up, it was thought they would still do something with the name.

Founded in 2008 by Bjorn Rebney, the promotion featured a tournament format that had a lot of fighters cut their teeth in the sport before they were even well-known. Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler are all-time great lightweights because of the wars they fought there, and the titles they won.

For me, it was my gateway into my media coverage career.

My first event live as a fan was Bellator 108, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson against Joey Beltran. Jackson was someone I rooted for since he was a former Pride fighter and getting to see him live, in New Jersey was something special. I got to see him fight again at Mohegan Sun for his next fight at Bellator 110.

I saw something else there too.

I saw people, all in a row, watching the fights and writing about what they saw. Then I saw those pieces published that night and the following morning. I thought, “That’d be cool to do.”