2013 in Bellator MMA was the eighth installment of the
Bellator MMA
Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) is an American mixed martial arts promotion (entertainment), promotion founded in 2008 and based in Santa Monica, California, owned and operated as a subsidiary of television and media cong ...
, which began on January 17, 2013 and ended on April 4, 2013.
Mixed martial arts tournaments were held in five
weight classes and all of the champions, except the heavyweight champion, placed their titles on the line during this season.
This season marked the beginning of Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) airing on
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
.
Bellator 85
''Bellator 85'' took place on January 17, 2013 at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California.
The event was distributed live in prime time by
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
. It marked the season debut of season eight.
Background
Bellator 85 was to open with a fight chosen exclusively by fans in the "Bellator: Vote For The Fight" contest. Fans could log onto
Spike.com
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was ...
to select the two fighters they want to see square off in the first ever Bellator bout on Spike TV. The eligible fighters were all welterweights and included
Paul Daley,
Douglas Lima,
Ben Saunders and
War Machine. Initially a bout between Daley and War Machine was announced by Bellator, but it was subsequently cancelled when War Machine tore his ACL and broke his fibula.
Results
Bellator 86
''Bellator 86'' took place on January 24, 2013 at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma.
The event was distributed live in prime time by
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
.
Background
Bellator 86 featured the opening round of the Season Eight Welterweight Tournament.
The card also featured the Bellator debut of
Muhammed Lawal, against veteran Polish fighter Przemyslaw "Misiek" Mysiala.
Results
Bellator 87
''Bellator 87'' took place on January 31, 2013 at Soaring Eagle Casino in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The event was distributed live in prime time by
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
.
Background
Bellator 87 featured fights the quarterfinals of the Season Eight Lightweight Tournament.
Patricky Freire was originally supposed to face Guillaume DeLorenzi in the main event. However, on the day of the weigh ins Freire was pulled from the card due to an "undisclosed injury" and replaced by
Saad Awad.
Results
Bellator 88
''Bellator 88'' took place on February 7, 2013 at The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia.
The event was distributed live in prime time by
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
.
Background
Bellator 88 featured the opening round of the Season Eight Featherweight Tournament as well as a title fight for the vacant Middleweight title.
A middleweight bout between
Kelvin Tiller and
Dave Vitkay was originally announced for this card, but failed to materialize.
Results
Bellator 89
''Bellator 89'' took place on February 14, 2013 at The Bojangles' Coliseum, in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event was distributed live in prime time by
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
.
Background
Bellator 89 featured the opening round of the Middleweight tournament.
The event also featured the first defense for Eduardo Dantas of the
Bantamweight Title since he won it from
Zach Makovsky in May 2012. It marked the first time two training partners and friends have fought for a title in the Bellator promotion.
Results
Bellator 90
''Bellator XC'' took place on February 21, 2013 at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah. The event was distributed live in prime time by
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
.
Background
Bellator 90 featured the finals of the
Bellator Season 7 Featherweight Tournament.
The card also featured the Light Heavyweight and Welterweight tournament semifinals.
Results
Bellator 91
''Bellator 91'' took place on February 28, 2013 at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The event was distributed live in prime time by
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
.
Background
Bellator 91 featured the first title defense by Light Heavyweight champion
Christian M'Pumbu, despite having won the belt in May 2011.
Alexander Sarnavskiy was originally scheduled to face
David Rickels in the semifinals. However, Sarnavskiy fractured his hand during his first fight and had to withdraw from the tournament. He was replaced with
Jason Fischer.
Results
Bellator 92
''Bellator 92'' took place on March 7, 2013 at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California. The event was distributed live in prime time by
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
.
Background
The card was originally scheduled to have the season 7 Lightweight tournament final between
Dave Jansen and
Marcin Held. However, Held was injured and the fight was delayed two weeks to Bellator 93.
Results
Bellator 93
''Bellator 93'' took place on March 21, 2013 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisée in Lewiston, Maine.
The event was distributed live in prime time by
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
and featured the Season Seven Lightweight Tournament Final.
Background
Ben Saunders and
Douglas Lima were scheduled to have a rematch on this card to decide the winner of the
Bellator Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Final. However, Lima broke his hand and the match was delayed until later in the year.
Heavyweights
Brett Rogers and
Eric Prindle were scheduled to face each other on this card. However, the week leading up to the show it was announced that Prindle had pulled out of the bout due to an injury.
Jon Lemke defeated Jesse Erickson to kick off the event for the night and marked Bellator's 800th Fight in the history of the company.
Results
Bellator 94
''Bellator 94'' took place on March 28, 2013 at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida.
The event was distributed live in prime time by
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
and featured the Light Heavyweight and Lightweight Tournament Finals.
Background
Tony Fryklund made his return to mixed martial arts on this card after a 6-year absence. His last fight was a losing effort against
Cung Le at a
Strikeforce event in June 2007.
A bout between middleweights Ivan Devalle and Rory Shallcross was originally announced for this card, but failed to materialize.
Results
Bellator 95
''Bellator 95'' took place on April 4, 2013 at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The event was distributed live in prime time by
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
.
Background
The event was initially scheduled to feature a championship match for the
Featherweight Title between
Pat Curran and
Daniel Mason-Straus. However, on February 26, it was announced that Straus had broken his hand and had to pull out of the fight. On February 27, it was announced that recent tournament winner
Shahbulat Shamhalaev would advance with his title shot and he faced Curran on this card.
The card was to feature the #1-ranked 125-pound female fighter according to the Unified Women's MMA Rankings
Jessica Eye vs. Munah Holland in a Women's Flyweight bout, but Eye had to withdraw due to a back injury.
Results
Tournaments
Light Heavyweight tournament bracket
Middleweight tournament bracket
Welterweight tournament bracket
Lightweight tournament bracket
Featherweight tournament bracket
Bellator 96
Bellator 96 took place on June 19, 2013 at the Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. The event was distributed live in prime time by Spike TV. It marked the season debut of the 2013 summer series.
Randy Couture,
Frank Shamrock,
Greg Jackson and
Joe Warren took part in commentary.
Background
Bellator 96 featured the opening round of the 2013 Summer Series Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight tournaments.
This event served as the lead in for the debut of Bellator's new reality TV series,
Fight Master: Bellator MMA.
Michael Chandler was expected to defend his
Lightweight Title against
Dave Jansen on this card. However, on June 2, it was announced that Jansen had to pull out of the bout due to an injury.
Vinicius Queiroz was originally scheduled to face
Richard Hale in the heavyweight tournament. Queiroz, however, suffered a knee injury and was replaced
Ryan Martinez.
Both
Derek Campos and
Keith Berry missed weight for their fights; as a result, both fighters forfeited a portion of their purses to their opponents and the matches were changed to catchweight.
Both
Seth Petruzelli &
Renato Sobral retired from MMA competition after this event.
Results
Bellator 97
Bellator 97 took place on July 31, 2013 at the Santa Ana Star Center in
Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The event was distributed live in prime time by Spike TV.
Background
The card featured Ben Askren's fourth title defense of the
Bellator Welterweight Championship and Michael Chandler's second defense of the
Bellator Lightweight Championship.
The card also featured the
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Boxing Professional
Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...
and
Light Heavyweight
Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing Professional
In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...
Tournament Finals and
Bantamweight Tournament Semifinals.
Douglas Lima and
Ben Saunders were scheduled to fight in order to decide the next contender for the Welterweight title. However, on June 11, it was announced that Lima had to pull out of the bout due to an injury.
Patricio Freire was originally scheduled to face
The Ultimate Fighter veteran
Rob Emerson. However, on July 12, it was revealed Emerson had to withdraw due to injury and was replaced by
Jared Downing.
The live airing featured the announcement of Bellator's first
pay per view event for November 2, 2013 that will be headlined by
Tito Ortiz versus
Quinton Jackson.
Results
Tournaments
Heavyweight tournament bracket
Light Heavyweight tournament bracket
Bantamweight tournament bracket
Bellator 98
Bellator 98 took place on September 7, 2013 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV. It marked the season debut of season nine.
Background
Bellator 98 was supposed to feature a
Bellator Middleweight Championship
Bellator MMA (formerly known as "Bellator Fighting Championships") is 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 ...
bout between
Alexander Shlemenko and Season 8 Middleweight Tournament Winner
Doug Marshall
Douglas Garrett Marshall (born February 3, 1977) is an American former professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 2003 until 2014, Marshall has fought in Bellator, Tachi Palace Fights, the Super Fight League, and the P ...
. However, on August 19 Marshall was forced out of the title bout due to an injury and was replaced by Season 8 Middleweight Tournament Runner Up
Brett Cooper.
The
Fight Master: Bellator MMA finale between
Joe Riggs and
Mike Bronzoulis
Mikel "Mike" Bronzoulis (born January 5, 1979) is an American mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Lightweight division of Bellator. A professional competitor since 2007, Bronzoulis has competed for Strikeforce, Legacy FC, Ti ...
was expected to take place at this event. However, on September 3, it was revealed Riggs has sustained a significant eye injury and the bout was postponed indefinitely. The fight was later scheduled for
Bellator 106.
Dan Cramer was originally scheduled to face
Perry Filkins in the Middleweight tournament opening round, but withdrew from the match and was replaced by Jeremy Kimball.
Joe Warren was scheduled to face Nick Kirk on this card. However, on the Friday before the event, Warren was removed for undisclosed medical reasons. The fight was later scheduled for
Bellator 101
Andreas Spang was originally scheduled to face
Justin Torrey in the Middleweight tournament opening round, but was declared unfit to fight by the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation. He was replaced by
Brennan Ward, who originally was supposed to face
Dave Vitkay on the preliminary card.
Andrew Calandrelli
Andrew Calandrelli, Jr. is a retired American mixed martial artist. A professional from 2004 until 2014, he competed in Bellator MMA.
Mixed martial arts career Early career
Calandrelli made his professional MMA debut in 2004. He amassed a recor ...
was originally scheduled to face
Ryan Quinn, but was removed from the card and replaced by
Brylan Van Artsdalen.
The card featured all the Middleweight Tournament Quarterfinal bouts.
Results
Bellator 99
Bellator 99 took place on September 13, 2013 at the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV.
Background
Bellator 99 featured the Featherweight Tournament Quarterfinal bouts.
Vladimir Matyushenko was originally scheduled to face for Bellator Light Heavyweight champion
Christian M'Pumbu. However, on August 18, it was announced that M'Pumbu had a hand injury and he was replaced by
Houston Alexander.
Shahbulat Shamhalaev was originally scheduled to face
Akop Stepanyan on this card. However, on September 9, it was revealed Shamhalaev was forced to pull out of the tournament due to his ailing father. He was replaced by
Justin Wilcox.
A bantamweight bout between Derek Loffer and Mario Navarro was initially planned for this card, but cancelled for unknown reasons.
Results
Bellator 100
Bellator 100 took place on September 20, 2013 at the Grand Canyon University Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV.
Background
Bellator 100 featured the Season 9 Welterweight Tournament Quarterfinal bouts and the Season 8 Welterweight finals.
Matt Riddle was originally scheduled to face Luis Melo on this card, but pulled out due to a cracked rib.
He was replaced by
Ron Keslar.
Mark Scanlon was originally scheduled to face
Herman Terrado on this card, but pulled out due to an injury and was replaced by
Rick Hawn
Results
Bellator 101
Bellator 101 took place on September 27, 2013 at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV.
Background
Bellator 101 featured the Season 9 Lightweight Tournament Quarterfinal bouts.
Rob Sinclair was scheduled to face
Rich Clementi in a Lightweight Tournament Quarterfinal fight, but on Sept. 9, 2013 had to pull out due to injury and was replaced by
Ricardo Tirloni.
Marcin Held was originally scheduled to face Tirloni on the preliminary card, and
Ryan Healy took the fight as a replacement.
Results
Bellator 102
Bellator 102 took place on October 4, 2013 at Visalia Convention Center in Visalia, California. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV.
Background
Bellator 102 featured the Heavyweight Tournament Semifinals, Middleweight Tournament Semifinals and Summer Series bantamweight tournament final between Anthony Leone and Rafael "Morcego" Silva.
Michael Page and Kenny Ento were scheduled to face each other in a Welterweight bout on this card. However, on September 30, it was announced that Page was injured and both he and Ento were removed from the card.
Perry Filkins was to face
Brennan Ward in the Middleweight Tournament Semifinals. However, he had to pull out due to injury and was replaced by
Joe Pacheco.
Results
Bellator 103
Bellator 103 took place on October 11, 2013 at Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kansas. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV.
Background
Bellator 103 featured the Featherweight Tournament Semifinal bouts.
Results
Bellator 104
Bellator 104 took place on October 18, 2013 at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV.
Background
Bellator 104 featured the Welterweight Tournament Semifinal bouts.
Results
Bellator 105
Bellator 105 took place on October 25, 2013 at Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV.
Background
Bellator 105 featured the Lightweight Tournament Semifinal bouts.
Eugene Fadiora was initially scheduled to face
Andreas Spang. However, Spang was removed from the card and replaced by
Keith Berry.
Results
Bellator 106
Bellator 106 took place on November 2, 2013 at Convention and Entertainment Center in Long Beach, California. The event aired live on Spike TV.
Background
Bellator 106 was to be
Bellator
Bellator, warrior in Latin, may refer to:
* Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States
* Bishop Bellator of Archaeological site of Sbeitla, Sufetula (5th century)
Taxonomy
* Bellator (fish), ''Bellator'' (fish), a fis ...
's first ever
pay-per-view
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...
event and was expected to be headlined by a Light Heavyweight bout between
Tito Ortiz and
Quinton Jackson, both of whom would have been making their promotional debuts. However, on October 25, it was announced that Ortiz was out of the bout due to injury. Subsequently, Bellator announced that the show would air on Spike TV rather that PPV.
The main event featured a Lightweight title rematch between the current champion
Michael Chandler and former champion
Eddie Alvarez. Chandler defeated Alvarez via fourth round submission in their original bout back at
Bellator 58.
The Heavyweight tournament final between
Cheick Kongo and
Vinicius Queiroz was originally scheduled for this card. However, an injury to Queiroz forced it off the card and it will be rescheduled on a future show.
Results
, -
! colspan="8" style="background:#ccf; color:navy; text-align:center;", Preliminary Card (
Spike.com
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was ...
)
, -
! colspan="8" style="background:#ccf; color:navy; text-align:center;", Unaired
Bellator 107
Bellator 107 took place on November 8, 2013 at the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV.
Background
Bellator 107 featured the Heavyweight Tournament final, Middleweight Tournament final and Bantamweight Tournament final.
Cheick Kongo was originally scheduled to face
Vinicius Queiroz in the Heavyweight tournament finals, but Queiroz withdrew due to a knee injury.
He was replaced by
Peter Graham.
Results
Bellator 108
Bellator 108 took place on November 15, 2013 at Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV.
Background
Bellator 108 featured the Featherweight Tournament Finals.
Heavyweight champion
Alexander Volkov made the first defense of his title against
Vitaly Minakov on this show in the co-main event.
The card featured the Bellator debut of
Quinton Jackson following the cancellation of his bout against
Tito Ortiz. He faced Bellator and
UFC veteran
Joey Beltran in the main event.
Nah-Shon Burrell was originally scheduled to face
Dante Rivera on this card. However, he was rescheduled to face
Jesus Martinez due to undisclosed reasons.
Results
Bellator 109
Bellator 109 took place on November 22, 2013 at Sands Casino Event Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV.
Background
Bellator 109 featured the 2013 Season 9 Welterweight and Lightweight Tournament Finals.
Michael Page and Andrew Osbourne were slated to face each other in a Welterweight bout on this card but the fight was scrapped due to Page recovering from lingering injuries.
Matt Riddle was expected to come out of his 3-week retirement to fight
Nathan Coy at this event. However, he pulled out of the bout on November 13, 2013.
Results
Tournaments
Heavyweight tournament bracket
*(*) Replaced
Vinicius Queiroz
Middleweight tournament bracket
*(*) Replaced
Andreas Spang
*(**) Replaced
Dan Cramer
*(***) Replaced
Perry Filkins
Welterweight tournament bracket
*(*) Replaced
Matt Riddle
*(**) Replaced Mark Scanlon
Lightweight tournament bracket
* (*) Replaced Rob Sinclair
Featherweight tournament bracket
*(*) Replaced
Shahbulat Shamhalaev
Bantamweight tournament bracket
References
External links
Bellator
{{Bellator Tournament Events
2013 American television seasons
2013 in mixed martial arts
Bellator MMA events