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Cris Cyborg completed a fifth successful defense of her featherweight championship belt on Saturday by defeating Cat Zingano via first-round TKO at Bellator…
Cris Cyborg completed a fifth successful defense of her featherweight championship belt on Saturday by defeating Cat Zingano via first-round TKO at Bellator…
With Bellator’s future currently up in the air, reigning heavyweight champion Ryan Bader was well aware that Saturday night’s Bellator 300 event could be his final opportunity to defend the title. Sadly, he won’t have that chance after his opponent, Linton Vassell, withdrew from the contest days before fight night. With rumors of the promotion […]
With Bellator’s future currently up in the air, reigning heavyweight champion Ryan Bader was well aware that Saturday night’s Bellator 300 event could be his final opportunity to defend the title. Sadly, he won’t have that chance after his opponent, Linton Vassell, withdrew from the contest days before fight night.
With rumors of the promotion being sold to a third party swirling, Bader is uncertain where he or other members of the Bellator roster currently stand.
“I’ve had some talks with my manager about ‘what ifs,’ but really nobody knows what’s happening,” Bader told MMA Fighting. “So what you can do, keep that on the outside and take care of your job. Put yourself in the best position moving forward with a merger or who knows what happens. Are we all free agents? Are we merging with PFL? We don’t know.
“You can think of all different scenarios, but none of them may be true. What we have to do is keep our heads down and think about the fight in front of us, and put ourselves in the best position to get your contract picked up, or if you’re a free agent, a new contract. Being the heavyweight champion has a little bit of weight going into that.”
The prevailing theory thus far has Bellator being absorbed by the Professional Fighters League, a promotion that is looking to make a strong push in the next few years courtesy of an aggressive expansion in Europe and Africa. Not to mention the acquisition of former UFC heavyweight world champion Francis Ngannou.
Currently, Ngannou is gearing up for a big-money boxing match with Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia on October 28. Once that bout is in the books, ‘The Predator’ is expected to turn his attention back toward MMA, making his PFL debut in early 2024. No official opponent has been announced for his premiere performance inside the Smart Cage, but whoever earns the opportunity will walk away with a fat sack of cash, win or lose.
“[Ngannou] has a minimum [of $2 million dollars], and that’s anybody that fights him gets $2 million,” Bader said. “You go in there as a champion and negotiate your terms too, that’s a nice little payday and something you work toward. Something like that’s definitely on the line, so maybe this is happening at the right time for the right reason.
“Obviously we’ve got to see how things shake out, but it seems to be happening at the right moment. It’s one of the things I’m talking about. If this merger or whatever comes to happen, that’s a big money fight and it’s something that’s very, very interesting.”
Ryan Bader first broke onto the MMA scene after winning the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter in 2008. Over the next eight years, ‘Darth’ would compete against a who’s who of light heavyweight talent inside the Octagon, including Jon Jones, Lyoto Machida, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Rashad Evans, Glover Teixeira, and Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson.
However, it wasn’t until he ventured to Bellator in 2017 that Bader would hit his strike, capturing both the light heavyweight and heavyweight titles. In February, ‘Darth’ successfully defended the heavyweight strap against MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 290. A fight that could end up being his last for the promotion.
“I’ve hit a lot of those plateaus and peaks as far as winning the heavyweight grand prix while holding the light heavyweight belt. You can’t really top that,” Bader said. “[I beat] Fedor [Emelianenko], and being heavyweight champ for so long — so yeah, a lot of it is you want to make [money], and I’ve been making great money, and I want to continue making great money or even more money.
“I’m 40 years old. I’m not going to be fighting here forever. I’m not going to be fighting four or five more years. So yeah, that’s a big motivator, too. Go out and get these paychecks, but deep down the [competitor] in me wants to go out and win, and win titles, and do that kind of stuff also. They go hand in hand.”
Undisputed UFC welterweight champion, Leon Edwards was corralled by security and officials after the culmination of last night’s Bellator 299 event in Dublin, watching on from the corner after promotional middleweight champion, Johnny Eblen landed a third round KO win over his younger brother, Fabian Edwards. Birmingham native, Edwards, who has been sidelined since he […]
Undisputed UFC welterweight champion, Leon Edwards was corralled by security and officials after the culmination of last night’s Bellator 299 event in Dublin, watching on from the corner after promotional middleweight champion, Johnny Eblen landed a third round KO win over his younger brother, Fabian Edwards.
Birmingham native, Edwards, who has been sidelined since he headlined UFC 286 back in March, most recently landed a close, majority decision win over former pound-for-pound number one, Kamaru Usman in the pair’s trilogy rubber match in London, England.
And over the course of this week, the Team Renegade BJJ & MMA staple has been booked for his return to competition, taking on former interim welterweight champion, Colby Covington in a championship grudge match atop a UFC 296 card in December.
However, serving as a corner man last night in Dublin, Ireland, Edwards attempted to guide his younger brother, Fabian Edwards to middleweight success under the banner of the Scott Coker-led Bellator MMA, as he took on American Top Team ace, Eblen.
And despite starting brightly and mitigating a lot of the reigning champion’s offense, Fabian Edwards was dropped with a swinging hook in the third round, before Eblen capitalized and scored a ground strikes KO win.
Forced away from the downed Edwards by referee, Dan Miragliotta following his emphatic knockout win, Eblen shared a war-of-words with the above-mentioned, Leon Edwards after Bellator 299 – with promotional officials and security personnel corralling the duo.
Things got heated after the bell between @JohnnyEblen and Leon Edwards. #Bellator299 LIVE on @SHOsports
pic.twitter.com/s1XK2zJ1B0
— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) September 23, 2023
And following his victory, Eblen played up an eventual fight with the elder Edwards brother, claiming he hoped the Brummie landed a victory over former ATT staple, Covington in their UFC 296 title fight in December.
Reigning Bellator featherweight champion, Cris Cyborg reveals that she and Dana White have made amends. Cyborg is one of the best talents that women’s MMA has ever seen, but her time with the sports biggest promotion, the UFC, only lasted three years. While the depth of competition will always be an issue for a female […]
Reigning Bellator featherweight champion, Cris Cyborg reveals that she and Dana White have made amends.
Cyborg is one of the best talents that women’s MMA has ever seen, but her time with the sports biggest promotion, the UFC, only lasted three years. While the depth of competition will always be an issue for a female featherweight, Cyborg also had a rough relationship with UFC CEO, Dana White.
The pair have shared public spats over the years, some of which got rather personal – White once made fun of Cyborg personal appearance and claimed that she was ‘jacked up on steroids’, and that she looked like ‘Wanaderlei Silva in a dress and heels’. Cyborg signed with Bellator in 2019 and has enjoyed an undefeated run since debuting in 2020. She is now set to face Cat Zingano as part of the Bellator 300 card.
White has had countless public fueds over the years and rarely holds back on sharing his opinion. However, it seems that White and Cyborg have put things behind them abd moved on.
Talking to ESPN, Cyborg says that she has forgiven White and recently spoke to him at a UFC event.
“I asked Dana if it was okay to watch my friend [at the UFC Apex], ‘I wish you are doing well’, and he said ‘It’s okay Cris, no problem’,” Cyborg said. “I already forgave him, everything that happened. I’m older and I don’t hold grudges…different ways in life, but I wish him the best, that’s for sure.” (H/T MMA News)
Cyborg Vs. Zingano will be one of four title fights on the Bellator 300 which will take place on October 7 in San Diego, California
What is your favrioute moment from Cris Cyborg’s career?
Dana White doesn’t see any value in buying out Bellator. Over the last year, rumors have been swirling that Bellator was interviewing potential buyers with the biggest name being the Professional Fighters League. Initially, it was nothing more than pure speculation, but in recent months, reports have been flying that the pair are in final […]
Dana White doesn’t see any value in buying out Bellator.
Over the last year, rumors have been swirling that Bellator was interviewing potential buyers with the biggest name being the Professional Fighters League. Initially, it was nothing more than pure speculation, but in recent months, reports have been flying that the pair are in final preparations to close a stock-laden deal that would see the PFL absorb Scott Coker’s MMA empire.
Adding fuel to the fire was the announcement that the PFL had sold a minority stake in the promotion to Saudi Arabia’s SRJ Sports Investments for $100 million. The deal also includes plans to expand into the Middle East and North Africa in 2024.
Addressing members of the media following last Tuesday’s edition of Dana White’s Contender Series, the UFC President shared his honest thoughts on the proposed purchase of Bellator and whether or not the Las Vegas-based promotion could find itself as a potential suitor.
“Why on God’s green f*cking earth would anybody buy Bellator? So when we were just talking about business and making the right moves and making right decisions… There’s been lots of bad ones. Bellator would be one of the f*cking bad biggest,” White said. “Why anybody would buy Bellator is beside me. But hey, what do I know? We’ll sit back and see how this plays out. I’m excited.”
Learning that the potential asking price for Bellator is a whopping $500 million, White responded with a fair amount of sarcasm. “Bellator is $500 million dollars? Awesome. Sounds like a steal,” White quipped with a smile. “Sounds like a f*cking steal. Buy that thing quick before who else does? C’mon guys, this is f*cking silly.”
Of course, the UFC is no stranger to buying other mixed martial arts organizations. The promotion famously purchased PRIDE FC and the WEC in the early 2000s, but its biggest acquisition came in 2011 when the UFC acquired Strikeforce for $40 million, leading the way for a plethora of names to enter the Octagon, including Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller, Cung Le, Luke Rockhold, Alistair Overeem, Nick Diaz, and Dan Henderson.
The UFC allowed Strikeforce to run independently for two years until ultimately absorbing the company and signing some of the promotion’s biggest stars such as Ronda Rousey, Josh Barnett, and Daniel Cormier.
Undefeated welterweight finishing ace, Shavkat Rakhmonov has offered to welcome former Bellator MMA welterweight title challenger, Michael Page to the Octagon for a potential bow in the UFC – after the Londoner claimed he was “ready” to fight an opponent in the division’s top-10 in a long-rumored move. Rakhmonov, the current number six ranked welterweight […]
Undefeated welterweight finishing ace, Shavkat Rakhmonov has offered to welcome former Bellator MMA welterweight title challenger, Michael Page to the Octagon for a potential bow in the UFC – after the Londoner claimed he was “ready” to fight an opponent in the division’s top-10 in a long-rumored move.
Rakhmonov, the current number six ranked welterweight contender, was recently slated to make his return to the Octagon at Noche UFC next month, taking on former interim middleweight title challenger, Kelvin Gastelum in a co-main event slot.
However, after Gastelum suffered a facial injury ahead of the bout during a sparring session, Shavkat Rakhmonov was pulled from the card with the pairing shelved as a result.
Boasting a staggering 17-0 professional record, Rakhmonov, a native of Uzbekistan, also kept his stunning one hundred percent finish rate in tact back in March, submitting Geoff Neal with a third round standing rear-naked choke win. The victory came as Rakhmonov, a former M-1 Global welterweight champion impressive fifth under the banner of the UFC.
As for Page, the London Shootfighters staple has been sidelined himself since he landed a TKO via leg kick win over Brazilian veteran, Goiti Yamauchi under the Bellator MMA banner earlier this year, and has since confirmed his status as a free agent.
Linked with a move to the UFC, Page recently claimed that he was “ready to go” – and how he wanted to content within the welterweight top-5 from the get-go, rather than taking a “warm-up” clash in a potential promotional debut.
“Can I see myself there?” Michael Page said. “100 percent. I want top five – top 10 max. I don’t feel like I need to prove myself all over again. I just want to go in there – and we’ve seen it with Michael Chandler. He went in there, fought a top 10, Dan Hooker. Great first win for him, that just sprung him into title contention.”
“That is the route I see myself in,” Michael Page explained. “I don’t see it in any other way. I don’t need a warm-up fight. And it’s not like I’ve been out of the game for ages. I’m ready to go now.”
And following a recent welcoming to former interim lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier, Rakhmonov has also now urged Page to book an Octagon debut against himself.
“How about #6,” Shavkat Rakhmonov posted to Michael Page on his official X account in regards to his current ranking.
Prior to his submission win over Neal, Rakhmonov landed finishes over the quartet of Michel Prazares, Alex Oliveira, Carlston Harris, and recent UFC 292 feature, Neil Magny.
