Brandon Bell, who once fought in Bellator, was arrested on Sunday night and reportedly charged with sexual assault.
WYMT Mountain News, a CBS affiliate in Eastern Kentucky, reports that Brandon Bell, 33, was arrested in Lejunior, KY on Sunday and charged with second-degree rape and sodomy. That outlet reports that Bell was reported to police by the mother of a 14-year-old girl, who Bell is alleged to have had a sexual relationship with.
WYMT further reports that a warrant for Bell’s arrest states that the teen allegedly had a consensual sexual relationship with Bell between June and July in 2017 and that Bell was aware that the girl was underage.
Bell, nicknamed The Juggernaut, has an 8-6 professional record in mixed martial arts. In August, 2017 he fought at Bellator MMA Fight Series: Bristol, where he defeated Willis Sergent by unanimous decision. Prior to that bout, Bell competed multiple times for the Warrior FC promotion.
Brandon Bell vs. Waylon Lowe headlines @ValorFights #BorderWars2 on Feb. 17 https://t.co/nm9v0UDkZk
— BluegrassMMA (@BluegrassMMA) January 14, 2018
Two weeks ago, Valor Fights announced that Bell was to to headline Valor Fights 48: Border Wars II, against UFC, Bellator, and WSOF veteran Waylon Lowe. That event was scheduled for February 17th at the Corbin Arena in Corbin, KY.
However, due to Bell’s arrest, the event has been postponed; according to Valor Fights, who released a statement to Bloody Elbow. Valor Fights’ full statement is presented below:
Firstly, our thoughts are with the victim of this crime, her family, and her community. When we were made aware of Brandon Bell’s recent arrest, we made the decision to pull him from the event and have no intention of putting him on future cards.
Valor Fights also released the following statement on their official Facebook page:
We regret to announce that Border Wars 2, originally scheduled for Feb. 17 in Corbin, Ken., has been postponed.
We’re currently exploring all options for if/when the action will be rescheduled and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We hope to have an update on the situation within 48 hours.
This unfortunately stems from Brandon Bell’s recent arrest. He was previously scheduled to fight UFC vet Waylon Lowe in the main event.
Due to the nature of Bell’s arrest, the proximity of it in relation to the date of the event, the difficulty in finding a suitable replacement for Lowe, and the fact that the athletic commission has a very strict deadline for finalizing MMA bouts, our only option is to postpone the event, otherwise we risk putting on a sub-par show in a very expensive venue.
We sincerely appreciate everyone’s patience on the matter and will provide an update as soon as we can.
Brandon Bell is presumed innocent of all charges until proven guilty.