The Official Unofficial Bellator Rankings - December 17 2018

Bellator 212 wasn't the fastest paced broadcast, but the fights delivered for the most part. Juliana Velasquez secured her spot as the #1 contender at 125 with a win over Alejandra Lara. Sam Sicilia punched his way back to relevancy against brawler Derek Campos, improving to 2-1 in Bellator. AJ McKee scored an impressive submission over Daniel Crawford, though it is definitely time for a step up in competition. Javy Ayala became the first man to submit Frank Mir, forcing the aging legend to tap to strikes on the feet. And in the main event, Michael Chandler regained the title he controversially lost to Brent Primus, outclassing Primus for 5 rounds.

Bellator 213 also had it's share of meaningful fights. Liam McGeary picked up a much needed win against veteran King Mo, snapping a two-fight losing streak. Neiman Gracie proved the oddsmakers wrong, pulling the upset against heavy favorite Ed Ruth. His next bout will be a title fight against the winner of MacDonald-Fitch. Lyoto Machida won his Bellator debut, defeating former champion Rafael Carvalho in a very close match. He is expected to take on the winner of Mousasi-Lovato Jr. next. And last but not least, Ilima-Lei MacFarlane successfully defended her title at home against UFC veteran Valerie Letourneau, submitting her in the 3rd round by triangle choke.

HEAVYWEIGHT

Scheduled Match-Ups

1/26/2019: (#1) Ryan Bader vs (#5) Fedor Emelianenko - For Vacant Bellator Heavyweight Title

2/15/2019: (#2) Matt Mitrione vs (#4) Sergei Kharitonov
2/16/2019: (#3) Cheick Kongo vs (NR) Vitaly Minakov 

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Scheduled Match-Ups  

None Reported

MIDDLEWEIGHT

DROPPED
(#5) Alexander Shlemenko - Last Fought in Russian Cagefighting Championship


Scheduled Match-Ups
1/26/2019: (C) Gegard Mousasi vs (#3) Rafael Lovato Jr. - For Bellator Middleweight Title

WELTERWEIGHT

Scheduled Match-Ups
Date TBD: (C) Rory MacDonald vs (#2) Jon Fitch - For Bellator Welterweight Title
3/29/2019: (#3) Lorenz Larkin vs (#5) Andrey Koreshkov
2/16/2019: (#4) Paul Daley vs (NR) Michael Page

LIGHTWEIGHT

DROPPED
(#5) Derek Campos - Moved to Featherweight

Scheduled Match-Ups
2/19/2019: (#1) Patricky Pitbull vs (NR) Ryan Scope

FEATHERWEIGHT

DROPPED
(#5) Aaron Pico

Scheduled Match-Ups
3/22/2019: (#1) Emmanuel Sanchez vs (NR) Ashleigh Grimshaw
1/26/2019: (#5) Henry Corrales vs (NR) Aaron Pico

BANTAMWEIGHT

DROPPED
(#5) Ricky Bandejas

Scheduled Match-Ups
12/31/2018: (C) Darrion Caldwell vs (NR) Kyoji Horiguchi - Rizin Fighting Federation
1/26/2019: (#3) Juan Archuleta vs (NR) Ricky Bandejas

WOMEN'S FEATHERWEIGHT

Scheduled Match-Ups
None Reported

WOMEN'S FLYWEIGHT

Scheduled Match-Ups
None Reported




Fighter Thumbnails taken from Bellator website (http://www.bellator.com/). Rankings data taken from http://www.fightmatrix.com/. Font is Dream MMA.