Bellator MMA (formerly known as "Bellator Fighting Championships") was an American mixed martial arts promotion, and the following is a history of its champions in each weight class.
At the time of its inception in 2008, CEO Bjorn Rebney founded Bellator Fighting Championships as a tournament based organization. The inaugural champion for each weight class was determined by the winner of an eight-man tournament. All subsequent title challengers were required to first win an eight-man tournament in a specific weight class in order to earn the right to challenge that division's reigning champion. Dethroned champions were required to re-enter the tournaments in order to attempt to regain their title. Under Bjorn Rebney's sole leadership, Bellator MMA would strictly adhere to these rules during the first four years of its operation.
The first changes to this format would begin to appear not long after Viacom, Inc. purchased a controlling stake in the organization. In November 2012, CEO Bjorn Rebney announced the introduction of a "championship rematch clause". This would allow Bellator to schedule an immediate title-fight rematch if officials deemed the fight necessary. The next major change occurred during Bellator's 2013 Summer Series when it was announced that all three tournaments would be shorter, four-man affairs instead of the standard eight. Though originally stated to return to the eight-man only tournaments afterwards, officials instead decided to add two additional four-man tournaments to the existing tournament lineup in an effort to provide a more consistent flow of title challengers for their champions to face.
Two additional rule changes would be announced. The first was the "tournament champion replacement clause" introduced in August 2013. This allowed officials to grant title shots to replacement fighters when tournament winners were injured, or otherwise unavailable, through a complex voting and points system. Then, in June 2014, CEO Bjorn Rebney made an announcement stating that any fighter who had previously won a Bellator tournament would maintain permanent eligibility to fight for a title without having to re-enter another tournament. Neither of these changes would ever be implemented, however, as one week later Bellator MMA and its founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney parted ways, bringing about an end to the organization's tournament based model.
Men's championship history Heavyweight World Championship 206 to 265 lbs (93 to 120 kg) No. Name Event Date Reign Defenses 1 Cole Konrad Bellator 32 Oct 14, 2010 699 days Konrad vacated the title on September 12, 2012 when he retired from MMA competition. 2 Alexander Volkov Bellator 84 Dec 14, 2012 337 days 3 Vitaly Minakov Bellator 108 Nov 15, 2013 911 days Minakov was stripped of the title on May 14, 2016 after failing to make title defenses. 4 Ryan Bader Bellator 214 Jan 26, 2019 2,251 days — Valentin Moldavsky Jun 25, 2021 —Bader was released from Bellator on March 26, 2025. The title was subsequently deactivated.
Light Heavyweight World Championship 186 to 205 lbs (84 to 93 kg) No. Name Event Date Reign Defenses 1 Christian M'Pumbu Bellator 45 May 21, 2011 650 days 2 Attila Végh Bellator 91 Feb 28, 2013 387 days — Emanuel Newton Bellator 106 Nov 2, 2013 — 3 Emanuel Newton Bellator 113 Mar 21, 2014 343 days 4 Liam McGeary Bellator 134 Feb 27, 2015 617 days 5 Phil Davis Bellator 163 Nov 4, 2016 232 days 6 Ryan Bader Bellator 180 Jun 24, 2017 1,155 days 7 Vadim Nemkov Aug 21, 2020 1,244 days Nemkov vacated the title after announcing his move to Heavyweight on January 17, 2024. 8 Corey Anderson Mar 22, 2024 560 days The title was officially deactivated on October 3, 2025 in favor of continuing the lineage of the PFL Light Heavyweight World Championship.
Middleweight World Championship 171 to 185 lbs (77 to 84 kg) No. Name Event Date Reign Defenses 1 Héctor Lombard Bellator 12 Jun 19, 2009 1,040 days Lombard vacated the title on April 24, 2012 when he left Bellator for the UFC. 2 Bellator 88 Feb 7, 2013 597 days 3 Brandon Halsey Bellator 126 Sep 26, 2014 230 daysHalsey was stripped of the title on May 14, 2015 after failing to make weight for his title defense against Kendall Grove at Bellator 137. 4 Rafael Carvalho Bellator 144 Oct 23, 2015 945 days 5 Gegard Mousasi Bellator 200 May 25, 2018 394 days 6 Rafael Lovato Jr. Bellator 223 Jun 22, 2019 233 days Lovato vacated the title on February 10, 2020 when it was revealed he had been diagnosed with a cerebral cavernoma. 7 Gegard Mousasi Bellator 250 Oct 29, 2020 604 days(998 days) 8 Johnny Eblen Bellator 282 Jun 24, 2022 1121 days The title was officially deactivated on July 19, 2025 in favor of continuing the lineage of the PFL Middleweight World Championship.
Welterweight World Championship 156 to 170 lbs (70 to 77 kg) No. Name Event Date Reign Defenses 1 Lyman Good Bellator 11 Jun 12, 2009 485 days 2 Ben Askren Bellator 33 Oct 21, 2010 1,120 days Askren vacated the title on November 14, 2013 when he left Bellator for ONE FC. 3 Douglas Lima Bellator 117 Apr 18, 2014 455 days 4 Andrey Koreshkov Bellator 140 Jul 17, 2015 482 days 5 Douglas Lima Bellator 164 Nov 10, 2016 437 days(892 days) 6 Rory MacDonald Bellator 192 Jan 20, 2018 644 days 7 Douglas Lima Bellator 232 Oct 26, 2019 594 days(1,486 days) 8 Yaroslav Amosov Jun 11, 2021 890 days — Logan Storley Bellator 281 May 13, 2022 — 9 Jason Jackson Nov 17, 2023 218 days 10 Ramazan Kuramagomedov Jun 22, 2024 595 days The title was officially deactivated on February 7, 2026 in favor of continuing the lineage of the PFL Welterweight World Championship.
Lightweight World Championship 146 to 155 lbs (66 to 70 kg) No. Name Event Date Reign Defenses 1 Eddie Alvarez Bellator 12 Jun 19, 2009 883 days 2 Michael Chandler Bellator 58 Nov 19, 2011 715 days 3 Eddie Alvarez Bellator 106 Nov 2, 2013 290 days(1,123 days) — Will Brooks Bellator 120 May 17, 2014 — Alvarez vacated the title on August 19, 2014 when he left Bellator for the UFC. Brooks was not promoted to champion, due to his desire not to renew with the event and the possibility of losing the last two champions of the division to a rival organization. 4 Will Brooks Bellator 131 Nov 15, 2014 546 days Brooks vacated the title on May 14, 2016 when he left Bellator for the UFC. 5 Michael Chandler Bellator 157 Jun 24, 2016 365 days(1,080 days) 6 Brent Primus Jun 24, 2017 539 days 7 Michael Chandler Bellator 212 Dec 14, 2018 149 days(1,229 days) 8 Patrício Pitbull Bellator 221 May 11, 2019 879 days Patrício vacated the title on October 6, 2021. 9 Patricky Pitbull Bellator 270 Nov 5, 2021 378 days 10 Usman Nurmagomedov Bellator 288 Nov 18, 2022 1050 days The title was officially deactivated on October 3, 2025 in favor of continuing the lineage of the PFL Lightweight World Championship.
Featherweight World Championship 136 to 145 lbs (61 to 66 kg) No. Name Event Date Reign Defenses 1 Joe Soto Bellator 10 Jun 5, 2009 454 days 2 Joe Warren Bellator 27 Sep 2, 2010 554 days 3 Pat Curran Bellator 60 Mar 9, 2012 604 days 4 Daniel Straus Bellator 106 Nov 2, 2013 133 days 5 Pat Curran Bellator 112 Mar 14, 2014 176 days(780 days) 6 Patrício Pitbull Bellator 123 Sep 5, 2014 428 days 7 Daniel Straus Bellator 145 Nov 6, 2015 532 days(665 days) 8 Patrício Pitbull Bellator 178 Apr 21, 2017 1,562 days(1,990 days) 9 A. J. McKee Bellator 263 Jul 31, 2021 259 days 10 Apr 15, 2022 1,093 days(3,083 days) Pitbull was released from Bellator on January 14, 2025. The title was officially vacated on April 12, 2025. The title was subsequently deactivated.
Bantamweight World Championship 126 to 135 lbs (57 to 61 kg) No. Name Event Date Reign Defenses 1 Zach Makovsky Bellator 32 Oct 14, 2010 547 days 2 Eduardo Dantas Bellator 65 Apr 13, 2012 911 days - Joe Warren Bellator 118 May 2, 2014 — 3 Joe Warren Bellator 128 Oct 10, 2014 169 days 4 Marcos Galvão Bellator 135 Mar 27, 2015 448 days 5 Eduardo Dantas Bellator 156 Jun 17, 2016 477 days(1,338 days) 6 Darrion Caldwell Bellator 184 Oct 6, 2017 617 days 7 Kyoji Horiguchi Bellator 222 Jun 14, 2019 166 days Horiguchi vacated the title on November 27, 2019 for the division not to stagnate when he announced he was injured. 8 Juan Archuleta Bellator 246 Sep 12, 2020 237 days 9 Sergio Pettis Bellator 258 May 7, 2021 925 days — Raufeon Stots Apr 23, 2022 — — Patchy Mix Apr 22, 2023 — 10 Patchy Mix Bellator 301 Nov 17, 2023 543 days Mix vacated the title on May 13, 2025 when he left Bellator for the UFC. The title was subsequently deactivated.
Flyweight World Championship 116 to 125 lb (53 to 57 kg) Kyoji Horiguchi and Makoto Takahashi fought for the inaugural title on July 30, 2023, at Bellator MMA x Rizin 2. The fight ended in a no-contest after an unintentional eye poke rendered Takahashi unable to continue.
Women's championship history Women's Featherweight World Championship 126 to 145 lbs (57 to 66 kg)
No. Name Event Date Reign Defenses 1 Julia Budd Bellator 174 Mar 3, 2017 1,058 days 2 Cris Cyborg Jan 25, 2020 2149 days The title was officially deactivated on December 13, 2025 in favor of continuing the lineage of the PFL Women's Featherweight World Championship.
Women's Flyweight World Championship 116 to 125 lbs (53 to 57 kg)
No. Name Event Date Reign Defenses 1 Bellator 186 Nov 3, 2017 1,133 days 2 Juliana Velasquez Bellator 254 Dec 10, 2020 498 days 3 Liz Carmouche Apr 23, 2022 1,015 days
Women's Strawweight World Championship Under No. Name Event Date Reign Defenses 1 Bellator 34 Oct 28, 2010 831 days Frausto vacated the title on February 5, 2013 when she sign with Invicta FC. The title was subsequently deactivated.
Tournament winners Originally, all title challengers were determined through these tournaments with the winners earning the right to challenge the reigning champion at that weight class or, if necessary, be allowed to compete for an interim or vacant title.
Bellator Fighting Championships: Season One (April 3, 2009 - June 19, 2009) Weight DivisionChampionRunner-upEventDateMiddleweight Hector Lombard Jared Hess Bellator 12 Jun 19, 2009Welterweight Lyman Good Omar De La Cruz Bellator 11 Jun 12, 2009Lightweight Eddie Alvarez Toby Imada Bellator 12 Jun 19, 2009Featherweight Joe Soto Yahir Reyes Bellator 10 Jun 5, 2009
Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Two (April 8, 2010 - June 24, 2010) Weight DivisionChampionRunner-upEventDateMiddleweight Alexander Shlemenko Bryan Baker Bellator 23 Jun 24, 2010Welterweight Ben Askren Dan Hornbuckle Bellator 22 Jun 17, 2010Lightweight Pat Curran Toby Imada Bellator 21 Jun 10, 2010Featherweight Joe Warren Patrício Pitbull Bellator 23 Jun 24, 2010
Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Three (August 12, 2010 - October 28, 2010) Weight DivisionChampionRunner-upEventDateHeavyweight Cole Konrad Neil Grove Bellator 32 Oct 14, 2010Bantamweight Zach Makovsky Ed West Bellator 32 Oct 14, 2010Women's Strawweight Zoila Gurgel Megumi Fujii Bellator 34 Oct 28, 2010
Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Four (March 5, 2011 - May 21, 2011) Weight DivisionChampionRunner-upEventDateLight Heavyweight Christian M'Pumbu Rich Hale Bellator 45 May 21, 2011Welterweight Jay Hieron Rick Hawn Bellator 43 May 7, 2011Lightweight Michael Chandler Patricky Pitbull Bellator 44 May 14, 2011Featherweight Patrício Pitbull Daniel Straus Bellator 45 May 21, 2011
Bellator Fighting Championships: 2011 Summer Series (June 25, 2011 - August 20, 2011) Weight DivisionChampionRunner-upEventDateFeatherweight Pat Curran (2) Marlon Sandro Bellator 48 Aug 20, 2011
Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Five (September 27, 2011 - November 26, 2011) Weight DivisionChampionRunner-upEventDateHeavyweight Eric Prindle Thiago Santos Bellator 62 Mar 23, 2012Middleweight Alexander Shlemenko (2) Vitor Vianna Bellator 57 Nov 12, 2011Welterweight Douglas Lima Ben Saunders Bellator 57 Nov 12, 2011Bantamweight Eduardo Dantas Alexis Vila Bellator 59 Nov 26, 2011
Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Six