Fight Facts: Bellator 2023, a Year in Review

Bellator MMA in 2023 said farewell in many ways, putting on fewer events than it had in well over a decade before its acquisition. The promotion traveled far and wide, hitting its favorite hotspots without popping by the Mohegan Sun or Winstar as it has in past year. In this heavy-duty Fight Facts review, join us as we crack into the reduced but still champ-riddled lineup of events, which included the dramatic conclusion of the 135-pound tourney, the brief and bizarre introduction of a flyweight title and unfortunate hurdles for a women’s champion.

* * *

TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR FIGHTS IN 2023: 179
TOTAL NUMBER OF BELLATOR EVENTS IN 2023: 13
Knockouts: 16
Technical Knockouts: 27
Submissions: 33
Decisions: 96
Draws: 1
No Contests: 5

* * *

You Don’t See That Every Day

Good Luck Sorting This Out: Following Bellator 301 in November, news broke that the Professional Fighters League had purchased Bellator. Per the PFL brass, Bellator will remain open for at least the next couple of years.

End of a Long Era: Under new ownership, Bellator ended its broadcast partnership with CBS and Showtime. This concludes an arrangement that began at Bellator 255 in 2021, with Showtime no longer in the combat sports business.

We Knew: A sharp reduction from years past, Bellator ran 13 events from start to finish in 2023. This is the lowest number of shows since its first year of operation, which had 10.

Abandoned Fightsphere: Unlike the last several years, the promotion did not once travel to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. It spread out home and abroad, with no more than two shows in a single city.

Going Back to Cali: Bellator spent the most time in 2023 in its home state of California, with four events in four cities. Before the year was out, it traveled to Inglewood, San Jose, Temecula and San Diego.

Israel in 2024: In keeping with tradition, Bellator made certain to post up at least one in Dublin, Paris and Tokyo. For Japan, it co-promoted with Rizin Fighting Federation and ran just five Bellator bouts.

Thanks in Part to Matchmaking: Two different Bellator cards in 2023 ended their nights with at least 10 finishes: Bellator 293 (11) and Bellator 299 (13). In the former, 11 of the 15 matches ended inside the distance, accounting for the highest finish rate of any Bellator card this year (73.3%).

No Resolution: The organization kicked off its lightweight grand prix in March at Bellator 292, with Usman Nurmagomedov tapping Benson Henderson and Alexander Shabliy wrecking Tofiq Musayev to move to the semifinals. Later meeting Brent Primus and Patricky Freire, the four battled in hopes of setting up the finals, which Shabliy and Nurmagomedov reached.

Questions Swirling: The final of the lightweight bracket was Nurmagomedov defending his throne against Shabliy on an unannounced date. Instead, Nurmagomedov failed a post-fight drug test for an undisclosed substance. The champ was not stripped of his belt, but his win over Primus was overturned, and it is unclear if he will be allowed to continue in the tourney.

The Perfect Mix: While the lightweight grand prix is muddled, Patrick Mix put the stamp on the bantamweight tourney by demolishing Raufeon Stots to win the million-dollar check and the interim strap. “Patchy” went on to romp Sergio Pettis and unify the bantamweight crown.

Archie and Adjughead: Archie Colgan and Asael Adjoudj ended 2023 as the only two combatants to prevail thrice in the Bellator cage. Colgan remained undefeated by advancing his pro record to 9-0 on his way through the lightweight ladder.

Poor Piotr: No fighter made four walks to the Bellator cage this year, but five competed three times: Colgan, Adjoudj, Danny Sabatello, Mike Hamel and Piotr Niedzielski. Of those five, Niedzielski was the only one to go winless.

What Did Nurmagomedov Pop For? Five different matches ended as no contests, whether due to in-cage rulings or by being overturned later. This matches the Bellator high set in 2019.

It Happened: Steve Mowry and Ali Isaev battled it out at Bellator 290 en route to the lone draw in 2023. Three matching scores of 28-28 came down as Isaev won Rounds 1 and 3, while Mowry claimed a 10-8 in the second stanza.

Silent Pitbull: For the first time since 2012—when he did not compete at all—Patricio Freire did not get his hand raised in the Bellator cage. The company’s all-time wins leader still sits atop the pack with 22.

* * *

Finish Your Leftovers

It’s Not the Gloves: Perhaps due to a reduction in schedule, Bellator saw a sharp decline in knockouts from years past. Only 43 bouts ended in some form of knockout, for about one-third of the record set in 2019.

He Ate His Liver with Some Fava Beans: Wladimir Gouvea claimed the quickest finish of 2023 when he knocked out Gabriel Sayeg in 20 seconds with a body kick and some follow-up punches. It was one of only five sub-minute knockouts recorded with the promotion this year.

Beat That, Junior dos Santos: Heavyweight Sergey Bilostenniy wiped Kasim Aras out with a spinning wheel kick at Bellator 299. He was the lone Bellator competitor to win via spinning strike this year.

One Punt Man: With one perfectly placed foot, Levan Chokheli stripped Sabah Homasi of his consciousness. His knockout at Bellator 299 is the second via front kick in organizational history, with Ricardo Seixas’ over Dominic Clark in 2020 the first.

Lumberjack and Lumberjill: Michael Page, Patricky Freire, and Liz Carmouche recorded wins via leg kicks throughout the year. This year, they produced more leg kick finishes than any previous in Bellator.

Get Better Soon: Using an unorthodox inverted triangle position, Cris Lencioni choked out Blake Smith at Bellator 294. This move had only been seen in the Bellator cage on six past occasions, but none more recent than James Barnes hitting it on Rob Gooch in 2017.

The Deadly Head-and-Arm Toss: Performing the sixth scarf hold armlock by tapping out Pam Sorenson, Sara Collins debuted with the promotion with an upset. Hers was the second by a woman, with Denise Kielholtz previously locking one up at Bellator 188 in 2017.

Skywalking: Lucas Brennan climbed up the leaderboard with a rear-naked choke of Josh San Diego at Bellator 293. His six are tied with numerous competitors for the fourth-most in promotional history. Mix also earned his sixth this year by tapping Pettis.

* * *

Shiny

Will Travel for Belt: Despite a major decrease in events and fights, Bellator ran 15 title tilts in 2023. This total is tied with 2013 and 2022 for the most in a single year.

Easy Pickings: After picking up the middleweight belt last year, Johnny Eblen defended it twice against Anatoly Tokov and Fabian Edwards. Liz Carmouche also kept an iron grip on her flyweight strap by finishing DeAnna Bennett and Ilima-Lei Macfarlane. The two served as the only champs to register multiple defenses in 2023.

Crossover Worlds: Bellator introduced its flyweight title at Bellator MMA x Rizin 2, pitting former bantamweight king Kyoji Horiguchi against Makoto Takahashi. The throne is still vacant, as the match ended due to an eye poke in 25 seconds.

No More Worlds to Conquer: By laying waste to Cat Zingano on Bellator 300, Cristiane Justino set the women’s record for the most consecutive title defenses at five. Patricio Freire is the only other champion to string this many in a row—Vadim Nemkov has a retention via no contest in his run.

Carmouche, Carmouche, Will You Do the Fandango: Carmouche staved off Bennett with a fourth-round submission and stopped Macfarlane with a leg kick in the fifth round to remain champion this year. She is the only fighter in Bellator history to record finishes in all five rounds.

Girls Get It Done: Getting the job done 17 seconds into Round 5, Carmouche’s stoppage of Macfarlane serves as just the sixth under the Bellator banner. Three of those have come in women’s championship tilts.

Go to Commercial! Jason Jackson procured welterweight gold by crushing Yaroslav Amosov in the third round. At the time, “Dynamo” held the longest undefeated record in a major MMA promotion at 27-0.

Holding Up the Line: Zero championship bouts took place in the men’s featherweight division this year, with titleholder Patricio Freire attempting to become a two-division champ by going down to bantamweight and moving to lightweight in July. It was the only active Bellator division without a belt on the line in 2023.

See You in Japan: Fedor Emelianenko said farewell to the sport again in a losing effort for the Bellator heavyweight title at Bellator 290. “The Last Emperor” succumbed to strikes from Ryan Bader in their rematch. Despite competing in multiple major organizations after leaving Pride Fighting Championships in 2007, Emelianenko never again won a major title.

* * *

Open the Books

Open to Parlays: Out of the 179 fights put on by Bellator this year, nine closed with even odds. Betting favorites ended up winning 71.8% of their matches—higher than the likes of the Ultimate Fighting Championship but lower than many years past.

Did Not Slip on Black Ice: Jefferson Creighton sprang the greatest betting upset of the year by getting the nod over -1700 Joey “Black Ice” Davis. The +1100 underdog notched the second-highest in organizational history, second only to Christian Echols (+1250) knocking out -2000 favorite Pat Downey last December.

Dismissive Lines: Twenty-two Bellator bouts closed in 2023 with a betting favorite at -1000 or higher. Davis was the only one of that bunch to lose, although the ultra-favored Nurmagomedov had his win against Primus overturned to a no-contest.

Wacky Numbers: Nurmagomedov and Bryce Meredith came in tied as the highest betting favorites of the year, at -3300 against Primus and Miguel Peimbert, respectively. Justino at -3500 against Sinead Kavanagh (+1750) in 2021 is the only line to close above that number.

The Golden Corral: Creighton was the only fighter to pull off an upset at odds any higher than +500. The next-largest came when Henry “OK” Corrales at +450 won on the scorecards over -600 Akhmed Magomedov.

* * *

A Pound of Feathers or a Pound of Gold

Amateurish: Carmouche's opponent missed weight ahead of her championship bouts in April and October. Unlike standard practice to make the matches non-title fights, Bellator elected to allow Carmouche to try to defend her belt. If she lost, it was vacated—something not seen in any other major MMA promotion.

A Regular Irregularity: The same as in 2022, 10 Bellator fights took place where a single competitor missed weight. The heavy fighters did not perform well, losing seven of the 10 outings.

Get Brave CF Weight Classes: Twelve bouts occurred outside standard weight categories, with 160 and 165 pounds the two most common targets. Leonardo Sinis still missed weight for his 147-pound catchweight affair with Ciaran Clarke at Bellator 291.

Unprofessionalville: In June, Bellator 297 served as the lone fight card for the company all year without a single catchweight contest or someone missing weight. Nine of the 13 Bellator shows saw at least one combatant come in heavy.

Get It Together: Two fighters failed to make weight on multiple occasions this year: Diana Avsaragova and Niedzielski. The former won one of her two appearances, while the latter dropped both fights after missing the mark.

Seronio-Garcia Had This Weird Technicality: Two different Bellator bouts went awry in 2023 when both fighters missed weight. Cris Lencioni and Blake Smith came in heavy for their featherweight match at Bellator 294, while Bobby Seronio III and Alberto Garcia officially missed the bantamweight limit at Bellator 300.