Investors Reportedly Looking To Get In On Bellator
Bellator was founded in 2008 and has held hundreds of events.
Ariel Helwani said that Bellator is reportedly on the market.
The MMA journalist said that the MMA promotion will experience a massive change in ownership in 2023.
“What becomes of Bellator? There are whispers, I’ll just say, that they’re on the market,” Helwani said on his show, “The MMA Hour.”
But that rumor has yet to be confirmed. A source said that it’s more of investors getting a chance for a piece of the promotion. An official announcement from the promotion is expected to be made sometime today.
Bellator has grown its roster over the last few years.
It most recently signed former UFC bantamweight title challenger Sara McMann and has already had signed names like former UFC standouts like Cris Cyborg, Corey Anderson, Sergio Pettis and Gegard Mousasi.
But other fighters like Usman Nurmagomedov, Johnny Eblen and Ryan Bader have been able to find a home and make a name for themselves.
The promotion recently hosted its first-ever full card cross-promotional event this past weekend at Bellator vs. RIZIN in Saitama, Japan. But RIZIN didn’t get even a sliver of victory, as Bellator shutdown the Japanese mixed martial arts organization in a 5-0 win.
Bellator’s A.J. McKee, Patricio Freire, Kyoji Horiguchi, Juan Archuleta and Gadzhi Rabadanov all won in their respective events. McKee won in the main event and Freire was victorious in the co-feature.
Bellator was founded in 2008 and has held nearly 300 events. According to Bigly Sports, Bellator is ranked as the second biggest MMA promotion in the world.