On April 3, 2009, a new promotion burst onto the MMA scene: Bellator Fighting Championships.
Bellator, Latin for “warrior,” brought a slightly different format to the MMA landscape in the form of seasons featuring single-elimination tournaments, the brainchild of founder Bjorn Rebney.
Events typically led with non-tournament fights, then featured tournament bouts. The tournament winners at the end of the inaugural season were crowned the promotion’s new champions. In subsequent seasons, tournament winners earned the right to challenge the champ.
These days, Bellator still does tournaments, but long gone is the season format introduced 13 years ago.
At Bellator 1 in Hollywood, Fla., the promotion started its featherweight and lightweight tournaments, including some major notable names: Jorge Masvidal and Eddie Alvarez. In addition, Joe Soto, Luis Palomino and Estevan Payan fought in tournament bouts that featured current UFC play-by-play voice Jon Anik on the call on ESPN Deportes.
Check out the Bellator 1 event in full in the video above.
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