Bellator MMA is a mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in the United States. It was founded in 2008 by Bjorn Rebney, and its first event was held in April 2009. Bellator is known for its tournament-based format, in which fighters compete in a bracket-style tournament to determine the top challenger for the champion in each weight class.
The first Bellator event was held in April 2009, and featured a tournament in the light heavyweight division. The tournament was won by Travis Wiuff, who defeated Sam Hoger in the finals to become the first Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion.
In 2010, Bellator introduced tournaments in the welterweight, middleweight, and lightweight divisions. The first champions in these divisions were Lyman Good, Alexander Shlemenko, and Eddie Alvarez, respectively.
In 2011, Bellator introduced a tournament in the bantamweight division and crowned their first bantamweight champion in Zack Makovsky.
In 2012, Bellator introduced a tournament in the featherweight division and crowned their first featherweight champion in Pat Curran.
In 2013, Bellator held its first pay-per-view event, which featured a lightweight title fight between Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez. Alvarez retained his title by split decision.
In 2014, Bellator introduced a tournament in the flyweight division and crowned their first flyweight champion in Joe Warren.
In 2015, Bellator introduced a tournament in the featherweight division and crowned their first featherweight champion in Daniel Straus.
In 2016, Bellator introduced a tournament in the women’s featherweight division and crowned their first women’s featherweight champion in Julia Budd.
In 2017, Bellator introduced a tournament in the women’s flyweight division and crowned their first women’s flyweight champion in Ilima-Lei Macfarlane.
In 2018, Bellator introduced a tournament in the welterweight division and crowned their first welterweight champion in Rory MacDonald
In 2019, Bellator introduced a tournament in the Light Heavyweight division and crowned their first Light Heavyweight champion in Vadim Nemkov.
In 2020, Bellator introduced a tournament in the Heavyweight division and crowned their first Heavyweight champion in Ryan Bader.
In 2021, Bellator introduced a tournament in the Featherweight Grand Prix and the current champion is Patricio Freire.