Bellator MMA appears to be in the process of trimming its roster
considerably.
Roy
Nelson, Frank Mir and
Joe
Warren are among 31 fighters that are not currently under
contract with the California-based promotion. It is currently
unclear which of those fighters have been released by Bellator and
which simply haven’t had their contracts renewed. Three athletes —
Rafael
Lovato Jr., Jon Fitch and
Pat
Curran — informed the organization that they have retired.
MMA journalist Jason
Floyd was first to report the news, and it has since been
confirmed by multiple outlets.
Nelson signed with Bellator in 2017 and after defeating Javy Ayala in
his promotional debut, lost his next five bouts with the promotion.
The 44-year-old known as “Big Country” last appeared at Bellator
244 on Aug. 21, where he dropped a unanimous verdict to Valentin
Moldavsky.
Mir, a former UFC heavyweight champion, went 1-2 in Bellator
competition and is coming off a triumph over Nelson in his last
outing in October 2019. The 41-year-old Las Vegas resident began
his tenure with KO/TKO defeats to Fedor
Emelianenko and Javy Ayala.
Mir recently
revealed that he planned to test the free agent market after
fulfilling the final fight on his Bellator deal, but now it appears
that he is free to go where he pleases immediately.
A former featherweight and bantamweight title holder, Warren hasn’t
competed under the Bellator banner since a TKO loss to Shawn Bunch
in November 2018. The 43-year-old had won just three of eight
promotional appearances dating back to 2015.
Other notable names no longer under contract include former
middleweight champ Rafael
Carvalho, prospect Ricky
Bandejas, promotional stalwart David
Rickels and kickboxing standout Joe
Schilling.
Bellator Fighters No Longer Under Contract:
Joe
Warren
Ricky
Bandejas
Derek
Campos
Frank
Mir
Roy
Nelson
Vinicius
Zani
Manny
Vazquez
Shawn
Bunch
Mike
Kimbel
A.J.
Agazarm
Adel
Altamimi
Adil
Benjilany
Daniel
Crawford
Cris
Lencioni
Jeremiah
Labiano
Salim
Mukhidinov
Mihail
Nica
Haim
Gozali
Richard
Kiely
Ion
Pascu
Mateusz
Piskorz
David
Rickels
Joe
Schilling
George
Tokkos
Rafael
Carvalho
Rudy
Schaffroth
Kristina
Williams
Hatice
Ozyurt
Confirmed Retirement: