2010 in Bellator MMA


2010 in Bellator MMA was the second installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships -produced series. It started on April 8, 2010, and ended on June 24, 2010. Tournaments were held in the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions. The winner of each tournament will get a shot at the current Bellator Champion in his respective weight class. Three of the four current Bellator Champions also fought during this season in "Super Fights". These non-tournament, non-title catch-weight fights were to help prepare the champions in defending their titles against the winners of this season's tournaments sometime in the third season.

Bellator 13

Bellator 13 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, April 8, 2010, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
Background
The card featured two quarter-final bouts of the Featherweight and Lightweight tournaments Bellator is holding in its second season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.
Janne Tulirinta was originally set to fight Carey Vanier, however, Tulirinta was forced out of the bout because of visa issues. Joe Duarte was his replacement.
'''Results'''

Bellator 14

Bellator 14 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, April 15, 2010, at the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
Background
The card featured the quarter-final bouts in three of the four tournaments Bellator is holding in its second season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.
Originally, Imada was set to fight Ferrid Kheder at Bellator 15 but an injury forced Kheder out of the bout. James Krause was tapped as Kheder's replacement and the bout was moved to this event. To make room, a featherweight tournament bout between Patricio Freire and William Romero was moved to Bellator 15.
A bout between Jonatas Novaes and Daniel Mason-Straus was canceled due to an undisclosed illness.
'''Results'''

Bellator 15

Bellator 15 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took take place on Thursday, April 22, 2010, in Uncasville, Connecticut. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.
Background
The card featured quarter-final bouts in the Welterweight and Featherweight tournaments Bellator is holding in its second season.
Dan Hornbuckle was originally set to fight Sean Pierson, but a back injury forced Pierson out of the bout. Tyler Stinson was his replacement.
Jim Wallhead was forced out of his bout with Jacob McClintock due to air travel not being available in England. Ryan Thomas was Wallhead's replacement.
'''Results'''

Bellator 16

Bellator 16 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, April 29, 2010, in Kansas City, Missouri. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.
Background
The card featured the quarter-final bouts of the Middleweight Tournament Bellator is holding in its second season.
Eric Schambari was originally set to fight Matt Major, but Major instead fought Alexander Shlemenko and Schambari fought Luke Zachrich.
Rudy Bears was first set to fight Zak Cummings, however due to undisclosed reasons, Cummings pulled out of the fight and was replaced by Brent Weedman.
'''Results'''

Bellator 17

Bellator 17 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, May 6, 2010, at the Citi Performing Arts Center: Wang Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.
'''Results'''

Bellator 18

Bellator 18 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, May 13, 2010, in Monroe, Louisiana. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.
Background
This event featured two semi-final match ups from Bellator's season two tournament as well as four additional preliminary card fights featuring local fighters.
Hector Lombard was scheduled to face former WEC Middleweight champion Paulo Filho in a non-title bout, but Filho pulled out of the bout and was replaced by Jay Silva. This marks the fourth bout Filho has pulled out of in two years.
'''Results'''

Bellator 19

Bellator 19 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, May 20, 2010, at Verizon Theater in Grand Prairie, Texas. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.
'''Results'''

Bellator 20

Bellator 20 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, May 27, 2010, at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.
Background
The bout between Eddie Sanchez and Wayne Cole was reported to be for a spot in Bellator's season three Heavyweight tournament. However, Cole pulled out of the fight and was replaced by Marcus Suers.
Two of the match ups became catchweight bouts after Brian Melancon and Andrew Chappelle failed to make weight.
'''Results'''

Bellator 21

Bellator 21 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, June 10, 2010, at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.
Background
The card featured the final tournament fight in the Lightweight division. The winner was crowned the Bellator season 2 Lightweight winner and would face the current Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez sometime during season 3.
'''Results'''

Bellator 22

Bellator 22 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, June 17, 2010, at Kansas City Power & Light District in Kansas City, Missouri. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.
Background
The card featured the final tournament fight in the Welterweight division. The winner was crowned the Bellator season 2 Welterweight winner and would face the current Bellator Welterweight Champion Lyman Good sometime during season three.
'''Results'''

Bellator 23

Bellator 23 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, June 24, 2010, at Fourth Street Live! in Louisville, Kentucky. The event was distributed live in primetime by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.
Background
The card featured the final tournament fight in the Featherweight and Middleweight divisions. The winners were crowned the Bellator Season 2 Featherweight and Middleweight winners and would face the current Bellator Featherweight and Middleweight Champions, Joe Soto and Hector Lombard, respectively, sometime during season 3.
Luke Zachrich was originally set to compete in a middleweight bout against Mike Fleniken. However, Zachrich was forced to pull out of the fight for an undisclosed reason. He was replaced by UFC veteran, Johnny Rees. However, Rees was then replaced by Stoney Hale.
Kurt Kinser agreed to catchweight contest after Dave Overfield weighed-in well-over the 155-pound lightweight limit.
'''Results'''

Tournaments

Middleweight Tournament bracket

Welterweight Tournament bracket

Lightweight Tournament bracket

Featherweight Tournament bracket

Bellator 24

Bellator 24 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, August 12, 2010, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The card began Bellator Season Three and featured the first round of the Bellator 115-pound women's tournament and an opening round fight in the Heavyweight tournament.
Background
Two bouts, Nico Parella vs. Efrain Ruiz and Frank Carrillo vs. Moyses Gabin, were scratched from the untelevised portion of this card. Parella pulled his groin and Gabin suffered a broken foot, which forced both off the card.
'''Results'''

Bellator 25

Bellator 25 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. This event took place on August 19, 2010, at the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. The card featured tournament fights in Bellator's third season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates. In Japan, the event was distributed with a short delay by Cavea.
Background
A lightweight bout featuring Mark Miller and Josh Shockley was set to happen at this event. But the week before the event, the bout was scratched when Miller suffered a rib injury in training.
'''Results'''

Bellator 26

Bellator 26 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, August 26, 2010, at Kansas City Power & Light District in Kansas City, Missouri. The card featured tournament fights in Bellator's third season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.
Background
Rory Markham was scheduled to fight Steve Carl, however Markham was not medically cleared. Tyler Stinson took his place.
'''Results'''