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
Local Feature Fights
Bellator 50 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on September 17, 2011 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
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
Local Feature Fights
Bellator 51 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on September 24, 2011 at the Canton Memorial Civic Center in Canton, Ohio. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
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
Local Feature Fights
Bellator 52 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. It took place on October 1, 2011 at the L'Auberge du Lac Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Louisiana. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
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
Local Feature Fights
Bellator 53 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on October 8, 2011 at the Buffalo Run Hotel & Casino in Miami, Oklahoma. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
Background
This event hosted the second round of the.
The event drew an estimated 103,000 viewers on MTV2.
Results
Main Card
Local Feature Fights
Bellator 54 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on October 15, 2011 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
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
Local Feature Fights
Bellator 55 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships on October 22, 2011 at Cocopah Resort and Casino in Yuma, Arizona. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
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
Local Feature Fights
Bellator 56 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. It took place on October 29, 2011 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
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
Local Feature Fight
Bellator 57 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. It took place on November 12, 2011 at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario. The event was distributed live in primetime by MTV2.
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
Local Feature Fights
Bellator 58 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. It took place on November 19, 2011 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
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
Local Feature Fights
Bellator 59 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. It took place on November 26, 2011 at Caesars Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.
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
Local Feature Fights

Bantamweight tournament bracket

Welterweight tournament bracket

Middleweight tournament bracket

Heavyweight tournament bracket