Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Seven
Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Seven was the seventh installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships, which began on September 28, 2012.
Mixed martial arts tournaments were held in several weight classes, including the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and heavyweight divisions.
Events
Bellator 74
Bellator 74 took place on September 28, 2012 at Caesars Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2. It was the season debut of season seven.Background
Bellator 74 hosted the opening round in the Bellator Season Seven Welterweight Tournament.
Alexandre Bezerra was originally scheduled to face alumni Jeff Smith. However, Smith failed his pre-fight medical and was replaced by Matt McCook in a 157 lb catchweight fight. Plinio Cruz and Kelvin Tiller were also originally announced to meet in a middleweight fight, but the bout was cancelled after Cruz sustained an injury in training.
Results
Bellator 75
Bellator 75 took place on October 5, 2012 at The Venue in the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.Background
Bellator 75 hosted the opening round in the Bellator Season Seven Heavyweight Tournament.
The event featured the long-planned rematch between season-five heavyweight tournament finalists Eric Prindle and Thiago Santos. Prindle and Santos met in the finals of Bellator's season-five heavyweight tourney, but the bout was ruled a no-contest when Santos inexplicably kicked a downed Prindle in the groin. The initial rematch was scheduled for Bellator 61. However, on March 15, Bellator announced the fight had been pushed back a week to Bellator 62 due to Prindle having "flu-like symptoms." The following week Santos failed to make weight and the bout was cancelled, and Prindle was awarded the tournament win by default. Incredibly, the fourth scheduled meeting of these two fighters again ended in controversy as this time Prindle accidentally kicked Santos in the groin in round one.
Results
Bellator 76
Bellator 76 took place on October 12, 2012 at Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.Background
Bellator 76 hosted the opening round in the Bellator Season Seven Featherweight Tournament.
Fight card
Bellator 77
Bellator 77 took place on October 19, 2012 at the Reading Eagle Theater in the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.Background
Bellator 77 hosted the opening round in the Bellator Season Seven Lightweight Tournament.
Results
Bellator 78
Bellator 78 took place on October 26, 2012 at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.Background
Bellator 78 hosted the semi-finals of Bellator's Season Seven Welterweight Tournament.
Results
Bellator 79
Bellator 79 took place on November 2, 2012 at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.Background
Bellator 79 hosted the one half of the semi-finals of Bellator's Season Seven Heavyweight Tournament and Featherweight Tournament.
Paul Daley was originally scheduled for this event, but was taken off the card due to concerns that he would be stopped at Canada border entry due to incomplete paperwork needed to secure a visa.
Results
Bellator 80
Bellator 80 took place on November 9, 2012 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.Background
Bellator 80 hosted the second half of the semi-finals of Bellator's Season Seven Heavyweight Tournament and Featherweight Tournament.
The featherweight bout between Sky Moiseichik and Shanon Slack was changed to a 150-lbs catchweight bout after both fighters failed to make weight.
Results
Bellator 81
Bellator 81 took place on November 16, 2012 at the Ryan Center in Kingston, Rhode Island. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.Background
Bellator 81 hosted the semi-finals of Bellator's Season Seven Lightweight Tournament.
Results
Bellator 82
Bellator 82 took place on November 30, 2012 at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.Background
Bellator 82 hosted the final of Bellator's Season Seven Welterweight Tournament.
British fighter Michael Page was expected to make his Bellator debut at this event, but withdrew due to undergoing jaw surgery.
Results
Bellator 83
Bellator 83 took place on December 7, 2012 at the Caesars Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.Background
Bellator 83 was expected to host the final of Bellator's Season Seven Featherweight Tournament between finalists Shahbulat Shamhalaev and Rad Martinez. However, the night of the show it was announced on the air that the bout was cancelled due to Shamhalaev having food poisoning. The fight was initially moved to the following week's show, but then later postponed to season eight.
Results
Bellator 84
Bellator 84 took place on December 14, 2012 at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana. The event was distributed live in prime time by MTV2.Background
Bellator 84 hosted the final of Bellator's Season Seven Heavyweight and Lightweight Tournaments.
Christian M'Pumbu was expected to make his first defense of his light heavyweight title against tournament winner Attila Vegh. However, on December 3, 2012, it was announced that Vegh had been pulled from the card due to injury and the match postponed for a later date.
Marcin Held and Dave Jansen were scheduled to compete in the Lightweight Tournament Final on this card. However, the match was cancelled because the Indiana Gaming Commission barred the 20-year-old Held from competing as one must be 21 to enter a casino.
The fight between Richard Hale and Alexander Volkov was the Heavyweight Tournament Final as well as for the vacated Heavyweight Title.
Results