2013 in Bellator MMA


2013 in Bellator MMA was the eighth installment of the Bellator MMA, 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 airing on Spike TV.

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. 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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.
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 and Light Heavyweight 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 bout between Alexander Shlemenko and Season 8 Middleweight Tournament Winner Doug Marshall. 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 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 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'''