Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Five
Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Five was the fifth and latest installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships, and began on September 10, 2011. Mixed martial arts tournaments will were held in multiple weight classes, including the bantamweight, welterweight, middleweight, and heavyweight divisions.
Events
Bellator 49
Bellator 49 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on September 10, 2011 at Caesars Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The card was the debut of the promotion's fifth season and distributed live in prime time by MTV2.Background
This event hosted the first round of an eight-man welterweight tournament to be held over the duration of Bellator's fifth season.
Rick Hawn was expected to face Ben Saunders at this event but Hawn was forced out of the bout due to a knee injury. Hawn was replaced by Bellator newcomer Chris Cisneros.
The Ultimate Fighter 12 competitor, Andy Main, was set to fight Kenny Foster on the undercard of this event. However, after an undisclosed injury, Main was pulled from the bout.
On September 6, 2011, it was announced Bellator's Season 5 "Local Feature Fights" would be streamed live on Spike.com, starting with this event.
The event drew an estimated 235,000 viewers on MTV2.
Results
Main Card
- Welterweight Quarterfinal bout: Chris Lozano vs. Brent Weedman
- Welterweight Quarterfinal bout: Ben Saunders vs. Chris Cisneros
- Welterweight Quarterfinal bout: Luis Santos vs. Dan Hornbuckle
- Welterweight Quarterfinal bout: Steve Carl vs. Douglas Lima
- Catchweight bout : Alexandre Bezerra vs. Scott Heckman
- Welterweight bout: Giedrius Karavackas vs. LeVon Maynard
- Featherweight bout: Brylan Van Artsdalen vs. Joel Roberts
- Catchweight bout : James Jones vs. Lester Caslow
- Heavyweight bout: Azunna Anyanwu vs. J.A. Dudley
Bellator 50
Background
The event hosted the opening round of the middleweight tournament in Bellator's fifth season.
Veteran welterweight fighter Ailton Barbosa won Bellator's open tryouts in Hollywood, Florida in June 2011 to earn his spot on the card.
R.J. Goodridge was scheduled to fight J.P. Reese, but after suffering an undisclosed injury Goodridge pulled out of the bout and was replaced by Martin Brown. Also, Ryan Hodge was scheduled to fight Valdir Araujo, but was pulled from the bout with an injury, and replaced with Brett Cooper.
On September 15, 2011, Luis Palomino suffered an injury in training and was pulled from his scheduled bout with James Edson Berto. Berto was later pulled from the card as well, and the fight was scratched altogether; The two then met at W-1: Reloaded in which Palomino defeated Berto.
A scheduled lightweight bout between Dietter Navarro and Marcelo Goncalves was changed into a 156-lbs catchweight bout after both fighters missed weight.
The event drew an estimated 114,000 viewers on MTV2.
Results
Main Card
- Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Jared Hess vs. Bryan Baker
- Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Victor O'Donnell vs. Brian Rogers
- Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Zelg Galesic vs. Alexander Shlemenko
- Middleweight Quarterfinal bout: Sam Alvey vs. Vitor Vianna
- Catchweight bout: Marcos da Matta vs. Shah Bobonis
- Catchweight bout: Dietter Navarro vs. Marcelo Goncalves
- Middleweight bout: Brett Cooper vs. Valdir Araujo
- Lightweight bout: Rad Martinez vs. Brian van Hoven
- Welterweight bout: Ailton Barbosa vs. Ryan Keenan
- Welterweight bout: Cristiano Souza vs. John Kelly
- Lightweight bout: J.P. Reese vs. Martin Brown
Bellator 51
Background
This event hosted the first round of an eight-man bantamweight tournament to be held over the course of Bellator's fifth season.
Joe Soto was originally scheduled to face Eduardo Dantas in the opening round of the bantamweight-tournament. However, he was pulled from the bout after losing to Eddie Yagin at Tachi Palace Fights 10 and replaced by Wilson Reis.
The Jessica Eye-Casey Noland bout was changed from 125 lbs to a 127 lbs catchweight after Noland failed to make weight./
The event drew an estimated 158,000 viewers on MTV2.
Results
Main Card
- Bantamweight Quarterfinal bout: Joe Warren vs. Alexis Vila
- Bantamweight Quarterfinal bout: Wilson Reis vs. Eduardo Dantas
- Bantamweight Quarterfinal bout: Chase Beebe vs. Marcos Galvão
- Bantamweight Quarterfinal bout: Ed West vs. Luis Nogueira
- Featherweight bout: Frank Caraballo vs. Dustin Kempf
- Women's bout: Jessica Eye vs. Casey Noland
- Bantamweight bout: Farkhad Sharipov vs. Jesse Riggleman
- Light Heavyweight bout: Dane Bonnigson vs. Dan Spohn
- Light Heavyweight bout: John Hawk vs. Allan Weickert
- Lightweight bout: Clint Musser vs. Joey Holt
Bellator 52
Background
This event hosted the opening round of Bellator's second.
Blagoy Ivanov was originally scheduled to face Thiago Santos. Santos, however, was unable to travel from Brazil for the event and was replaced by Zak Jensen.
The event drew an estimated 269,000 viewers on MTV 2.
Results
Main Card
- Heavyweight Quarterfinal bout: Neil Grove vs. Mike Hayes
- Heavyweight Quarterfinal bout: Blagoy Ivanov vs. Zak Jensen
- Heavyweight Quarterfinal bout: Eric Prindle vs. Abe Wagner
- Heavyweight Quarterfinal bout: Mark Holata vs. Ron Sparks
- Catchweight bout: Genair da Silva vs. Bryan Goldsby
- Lightweight bout: Cosmo Alexandre vs. Josh Quayhagen
- Heavyweight bout: Liron Wilson vs. Justin Frazier
- Catchweight bout: Matt Van Buren vs. Nick Nichols
Bellator 53
Background
This event hosted the second round of the.
The event drew an estimated 103,000 viewers on MTV2.
Results
Main Card
- Welterweight Semifinal bout: Ben Saunders vs. Luis Santos
- Welterweight Semifinal bout: Chris Lozano vs. Douglas Lima
- Featherweight bout: Ronnie Mann vs. Kenny Foster
- Heavyweight Tournament Reserve bout: Thiago Santos vs. Josh Burns
- Catchweight bout: E.J. Brooks vs. Greg Scott
- Middleweight bout: Darryl Cobb vs. Giva Santana
- Catchweight bout: A.J. Matthews vs. Rudy Bears
- Light Heavyweight bout: Raphael Davis vs. Myron Dennis
- Welterweight bout: Levi Avera vs. David Rickels
- Catchweight bout: Zak Laird vs. Luis Nogueira
Bellator 54
Background
Bellator bantamweight champion, Zach Makovsky, competed in a non-title bout at this event. He faced one-time UFC competitor Ryan Roberts.
This event hosted the second round of the.
Eddie Alvarez was scheduled to make his second title defense of his lightweight championship against Michael Chandler on this card; however, on September 20, it was announced that Alvarez suffered an injury and the match has been pushed back to Bellator 58.
Karl Amoussou was expected to make his welterweight debut at this event against Joey Kirwan. However, for unknown reasons, Amoussou was pulled from the bout and replaced by Lewis Rumsy.
Results
Main Card
- Middleweight Semifinal bout: Alexander Shlemenko vs. Brian Rogers
- Middleweight Semifinal bout: Bryan Baker vs. Vitor Vianna
- Bantamweight bout: Zach Makovsky vs. Ryan Roberts
- Lightweight bout: Jacob Kirwan vs. Renê Nazare
- Middleweight bout: Daniel Gracie vs. Duane Bastress
- Light Heavyweight bout: Tim Carpenter vs. Ryan Contaldi
- Middleweight bout: Lewis Rumsey vs. Joey Kirwan
- Bantamweight bout: Brian Kelleher vs. Claudio Ledesma
- Women's bout: Andria Caplan vs. Adrienne Seiber
Bellator 55
Background
This event hosted the second round of.
Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Christian M'Pumbu fought Travis Wiuff in a non-title bout. M'Pumbu become the first Bellator champion to lose in a non-title bout.
Despite a close split decision loss, main eventer Marcos Galvão was awarded a "win" bonus.
The event earned an average of 168,000 viewers on MTV2.
Results
Main Card
- Bantamweight Semifinal bout: Alexis Vila vs. Marcos Galvão
- Bantamweight Semifinal bout: Ed West vs. Eduardo Dantas
- Light Heavyweight bout: Christian M'Pumbu vs. Travis Wiuff
- Lightweight bout: Ricardo Tirloni vs. Steve Gable
- Lightweight bout: Cesar Avila vs. Efrain Escudero
- Catchweight bout: Rich Hale vs. Carlos Flores
- Middleweight bout: Edgar Garcia vs. Jacob Ortiz
- Lightweight bout: Erin Beach vs. Roscoe Jackson
- Featherweight bout: Nick Piedmont vs. Jade Porter
- Middleweight bout: Steve Steinbeiss vs. Dano Moore
Bellator 56
Background
This event hosted the second round of Bellator's second.
Mike Hayes was expected to face Blagoi Ivanov at this event, However Hayes was issued a 60-day medical suspension by the Louisiana Boxing and Wrestling Commission due to a fractured orbital bone sustained during his fight with Neil Grove at Bellator 52.
Thiago Santos stepped in for the injured Hayes. Ivanov subsequently had to pull out of the bout due to an injury and was replaced by Neil Grove.
Results
Main Card
- Welterweight Championship bout: Ben Askren vs. Jay Hieron
- Heavyweight Semifinal bout: Thiago Santos vs. Neil Grove
- Heavyweight Semifinal bout: Eric Prindle vs. Ron Sparks
- Welterweight bout: Rudy Bears vs. Marcio Navarro
- Featherweight bout: Adam Schindler vs. Jeremy Spoon
- Light Heavyweight bout: Kelvin Tiller vs. Dan Spohn
- Lightweight bout: Willian De Souza vs. E.J. Brooks
- Featherweight bout: Jeimeson Saudino vs. Jacob Akin
- Bantamweight bout: Aaron Ely vs. Owen Evinger
- Heavyweight bout: Daniel Gallemore vs. Derrick Ruffin
Bellator 57
Background
This was the second time that Bellator has come to Canada. Previously, Bellator 47 was also held in Rama, Ontario.
This event hosted the final rounds of and .
Bellator's Women's champion, Zoila Gurgel, was scheduled to compete in a non-title bout against Carina Damm. However, an injury forced her off the card.
Results
Main Card
- Welterweight Tournament Final: Douglas Lima vs. Ben Saunders
- Middleweight Tournament Final: Alexander Shlemenko vs. Vitor Vianna
- Light Heavyweight bout: Roger Hollett vs. John Hawk
- Featherweight bout: Alexandre Bezerra vs. Doug Evans
- Light Heavyweight bout: Shawn Levesque vs. Matt Van Buren
- Lightweight bout: Chris Horodecki vs. Mike Corey
- Lightweight bout: Ashkan Morvari vs. Dave Jansen
- Bantamweight bout: Chuck Mady vs. Denis Puric
- Lightweight bout: Eric Moon vs. Josh Shockley
- Lightweight bout: Mike Sledzion vs. Taylor Solomon
Bellator 58
Background
Shooto’s 183-pound South American champion, Carlos Alexandre Pereira, was expected to make his Bellator debut at this event.
Bellator Middleweight champion, Hector Lombard, was expected to compete in non-title, light heavyweight fight against UFC and Strikeforce veteran, Renato Sobral, at this event. However, for unknown reasons, Sobral was replaced by Trevor Prangley.
The event drew a season high 269,000 viewers with the immediate repeat also drawing 160,000 viewers.
Results
Main Card
- Lightweight Championship bout: Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler
- Catchweight bout: Hector Lombard vs. Trevor Prangley
- Women's bout: Jessica Aguilar vs. Lisa Ellis
- Featherweight bout: Marlon Sandro vs. Rafael Dias
- Middleweight bout: Brett Cooper vs. Jared Hess
- Welterweight bout: Valdir Araujo vs. Ailton Barbosa
- Catchweight bout : Cosmo Alexandre vs. Avery McPhatter
- Middleweight bout: Jonas Billstein vs. Herbert Goodman
- Lightweight bout: Farkhad Sharipov vs. Fabio Mello
Bellator 59
Background
This event hosted the final round of as well as the.
Michael Costa pulled out of his fight with Lyman Good due to an injury, which led the organization to scrap Good from the event all together. The lightweight bout between Phillipe Nover and Marcin Held was promoted to the main card.
The final of the Heavyweight tournament was ruled a No Contest after an accidental groin kick by Thiago Santos rendered Eric Prindle unable to continue. Following the event Santos failed to make weight for a scheduled rematch causing the bout to be cancelled, and Prindle to be awarded the tournament win by default.
Results
Main Card
- Heavyweight Tournament Final bout: Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos
- Lightweight bout: Patricky Freire vs. Kurt Pellegrino
- Bantamweight Tournament Final bout: Eduardo Dantas vs. Alexis Vila
- Lightweight bout: Marcin Held vs. Phillipe Nover
- Catchweight bout: Karl Amoussou vs. Jesus Martinez
- Welterweight bout: LeVon Maynard vs. Christopher Wing
- Catchweight bout: Doug Gordon vs. Lucas Pimenta
- Featherweight bout: Brylan Van Artsdalen vs. Scott Heckman
- Middleweight bout: Gregory Milliard vs. Brandon Saling'''
Tournaments