2022 in Bellator MMA explained

2022 in Bellator MMA
Promotion:	Bellator MMA
Total Events:	18
Total Fights:	228
Title Fights:	15
Preceded By:	2021
Followed By:	2023

2022 in Bellator MMA was the fourteenth year in the history of Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States.

Events list

See main article: List of Bellator events.

	Event	Date	Venue	City	Country	Ref.
18	Bellator MMA vs. Rizin		Saitama Super Arena	Saitama	Japan	^[1]
17	Bellator 289: Stots vs. Sabatello		Mohegan Sun Arena	Uncasville, Connecticut	U.S.	^[2]
16	Bellator 288: Nemkov vs. Anderson 2		Wintrust Arena	Chicago, Illinois		^[3]
15	Bellator 287: Piccolotti vs. Barnaoui		Allianz Cloud	Milan	Italy	^[4]
14	Bellator 286: Pitbull vs. Borics		Long Beach Arena	Long Beach, California	U.S.	^[5]
13	Bellator 285: Henderson vs. Queally		3Arena	Dublin	Ireland	^[6]
12	Bellator 284: Gracie vs. Yamauchi	August 12, 2022	Sanford Pentagon	Sioux Falls, South Dakota	U.S.	^[7]
11	Bellator 283: Lima vs. Jackson		Emerald Queen Casino and Hotel	Tacoma, Washington		^[8]
10	Bellator 282: Mousasi vs. Eblen		Mohegan Sun Arena	Uncasville, Connecticut		^[9]
9	Bellator 281: MVP vs. Storley		SSE Arena	London	England	^[10]
8	Bellator 280: Bader vs. Kongo		AccorHotels Arena	Paris	France	^[11]
7	Bellator 279: Cyborg vs. Blencowe 2		Neal S. Blaisdell Arena	Honolulu, Hawaii	U.S.	^[12]
6	Bellator 278: Velasquez vs. Carmouche
5	Bellator 277: McKee vs. Pitbull 2		SAP Center	San Jose, California		^[13]
4	Bellator 276: Borics vs. Burnell		Family Arena	St. Louis, Missouri		^[14]
3	Bellator 275: Mousasi vs. Vanderford		3Arena	Dublin	Ireland	^[15]
2	Bellator 274: Gracie vs. Storley		Mohegan Sun Arena	Uncasville, Connecticut	U.S.	^[16]
1	Bellator 273: Bader vs. Moldavsky		Footprint Center	Phoenix, Arizona		^[17]

Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix Tournament

The eight participants of the tournament were revealed on December 3, 2021. They include current champion Sergio Pettis, the former Rizin and Bellator champion Kyoji Horiguchi, another former Bellator champion in Juan Archuleta, who captured the vacant bantamweight title in 2020 against Patchy Mix, who will also be in the tournament. The final four fighters in the Grand Prix are all ranked in the top six by Bellator at 135 pounds: Magomed Magomedov, James Gallagher, Raufeon Stots and Leandro Higo.^{[18] [19] [20]} Pettis and Gallagher would eventually pull out due to injuries requiring surgery.^{[21] [22]} Due to the pull outs, two wild card qualifier bouts between Josh Hill and Enrique Barzola, with the winner meeting Magomed Magomedov in the opening round, and the second qualifier between Jornel Lugo and Danny Sabatello, which will have the winner face Leandro Higo in the first round of the tournament.^[23] Due to Covid, Hill had to pull out of the bout and was replaced by Nikita Mikhailov.^{[24] [25]}

See also

• List of Bellator events
• List of current Bellator fighters
• 2022 in UFC
• 2022 in ONE Championship
• 2022 in Absolute Championship Akhmat
• 2022 in Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki
• 2022 in Rizin Fighting Federation
• 2022 in AMC Fight Nights
• 2022 in Brave Combat Federation
• 2022 in Road FC
• 2022 Professional Fighters League season
• 2022 in Eagle Fighting Championship
• 2022 in Legacy Fighting Alliance
• 2022 in combat sports

External links

• Bellator

Notes and References

1. Web site: Bellator vs. Rizin set for New Year's Eve in Japan, including Patricio Freire, A.J. McKee. mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Staff. 2022-10-24. 2022-10-24.
2. Web site: 2022-08-29 . Stots-Sabatello, Magomedov-Mix bantamweight semifinals set for Bellator 289 in December . 2022-08-29 . MMA Junkie . en-US.
3. Web site: Al-Shatti. Shaun. Corey Anderson vs. Vadim Nemkov 2 headlines championship doubleheader at Bellator 288. MMA Fighting. 29 August 2022. en. 29 August 2022.
4. News: Heck . Mike . Bellator announces return to Milan in October . 21 July 2022 . MMA Fighting . 20 July 2022 . en.
5. News: Bellator 286 fight card: Featherweight champion Patricio Pitbull to face Adam Borics in October . 4 August 2022 . CBSSports.com . en.
6. Web site: 2022-03-22 . Bellator announces September return to Dublin; Peter Queally, Sinead Kavanagh confirmed to fight . 2022-03-22 . MMA Junkie . en-US.
7. Web site: Newswire . MMA Fighting . 2022-06-15 . Neiman Gracie vs. Goiti Yamauchi set to headline Bellator 284; Valentin Moldavksy, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane also on card . 2022-06-15 . MMA Fighting . en.
8. Web site: 2022-06-08 . Bellator summer 2022 schedule: Promotion finalizing locations and dates . 2022-06-09 . MMA Junkie . en-US.
9. Web site: Lee . Alexander K. . 2022-03-29 . Gegard Mousasi vs. Johnny Eblen set for Bellator 282 main event on June 24 . 2022-03-30 . MMA Fighting . en.
10. Web site: Lee. Alexander K.. 2022-01-17. Yaroslav Amosov defends Bellator title against Michael ‘Venom’ Page in London on May 13. 2022-01-17. MMA Fighting. en.
11. Web site: 2022-01-30. Bellator Paris: Main Card Confirmed. 2022-01-30. 10 play. en-AU.
12. Web site: 2022-03-09. Bellator 278 & 279 to be held in Hawaii, headlined by return of Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Cyborg title defense, and Bantamweight Grand Prix. 2022-03-09. KHON2. en-US.
13. Web site: 2022-02-16. AJ McKee to rematch Pitbull in first title defense at Bellator 277. 2022-02-16. Orange County Register. en-US.
14. Web site: 2022-02-09. Bellator 276 set for March 12 in St. Louis with Adam Borics vs. Mads Burnell. 2022-02-09. MMA Junkie. en-US.
15. Web site: 2021-12-14. Gegard Mousasi to defend Bellator title vs. Austin Vanderford on Feb. 25 in Dublin. 2021-12-15. MMA Junkie. en-US.
16. Web site: Cruz. Guilherme. 2021-12-23. Neiman Gracie set to face Logan Storley at Feb. 19 Bellator card. 2022-01-17. MMA Fighting. en.
17. Web site: Heck. Mike. 2021-12-13. Ryan Bader vs. Valentin Moldavsky heavyweight title unification bout headlines Bellator 273 next month. 2021-12-13. MMA Fighting. en.
18. Web site: Al-Shatti. Shaun. 2021-12-03. Bellator announces $1 million bantamweight grand prix for 2022, eight-man tournament field. 2021-12-04. MMA Fighting. en.
19. Web site: 2021-12-04. Bellator announces eight-man bantamweight grand prix for 2022. 2021-12-04. MMA Junkie. en-US.
20. Web site: Bellator MMA announces eight-man World Grand Prix at bantamweight starting in 2022. 2021-12-04. CBSSports.com. en.
21. Web site: 2022-03-23 . James Gallagher injured, Bellator bantamweight grand prix takes another blow . 2022-03-23 . MMA Junkie . en-US.
22. Web site: Bellator 279 card: Sergio Pettis out of Bantamweight World Grand Prix with injury, Juan Archuleta steps in . 2022-03-23 . CBSSports.com . en.
23. Web site: 2022-03-22 . Bellator adds two wild card bouts, four fighters to bantamweight grand prix . 2022-03-24 . MMA Junkie . en-US.
24. Web site: 2022-04-05 . Bellator bantamweight grand prix takes another hit with Josh Hill withdrawal . 2022-04-06 . MMA Junkie . en-US.
25. Web site: 2022-04-11 . Josh Hill out of Bellator bantamweight grand prix, Nikita Mikhailov to face Enrique Barzola . 2022-04-11 . MMA Junkie . en-US.