Bellator Champions Series events have a home.
On Tuesday, the Professional Fighters League, which acquired Bellator in January, announced a new exclusive U.S. rights streaming deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to carry the new global Bellator Champions Series.
The deal kicks in immediately, as the first event, Bellator Champions Series—Belfast, is set for Friday, March 22. That event pits Corey Anderson against Karl Moore for the vacant Bellator light heavyweight title and kicks off at 1 pm E.T.
The co-main event is a Bellator Featherweight title bout between Patricio Pitbull and Jeremy Kennedy.
Beginning on Friday, all 8 of the 2024 Bellator Champions Series will stream exclusively live on Max to all subscribers, regardless of their subscription level. Here is a breakdown of the dates and locations of the events.
- Friday, March 22, 1 pm E.T. – Bellator Champions Series Belfast – The SSE Arena, Belfast
- Friday, May 17 – Bellator Champions Series Paris – Accor Arena
- Saturday, June 22 – Bellator Champions Series Dublin – 3Arena
- Saturday, September 7 – Bellator Champions Series San Diego – Pechanga Arena
- Saturday, September 14 – Bellator Champions Series London – OVO Wembley
- Saturday, October 12 – Bellator Champions Series Chicago – Wintrust Arena
- Saturday, November 16 – Bellator Champions Series Paris – ADIDAS Arena
- Tuesday, December 31 – Bellator Champions Series – TBD
In addition to the Bellator Champions Series, Max subscribers will have access to two new docuseries and The Best of Bellator’s fight library on TNT Sports on truTV.
The fight library is fairly robust, including more than 300 events with 3,000 fights, pre-fight, post-fight, and original programming. It includes bouts from well-known fighters like Kimbo Slice, “Rampage” Jackson, Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva, Tito Ortiz, and Fedor Emelianenko, as well as the entire fight history of Bellator homegrown talent like AJ McKee, Johnny Eblen, Aaron Pico, Michael Chandler, and Michael “Venom” Page.
The new docuseries Fight Camp Confidential and Fight Week are similar to series like 24/7 and others that tell the story of the fighters leading up to significant events.
Here are the series’ titles and how they were described in the press release.
“Fight Camp Confidential: Witness a journey into the lives of Bellator’s most elite fighters as the show travels to the camps of Bellator champions and title contenders, giving an up-close and personal look at their training regimes.
Fight Week: An all-access look at the lives of championship fighters as they prepare to defend their belts. Experience the intensity of training mixed with lighthearted moments that make up fight week.”
I spoke with Anderson earlier this month and asked him what he thought the biggest difference was in his experience with Bellator since the PFL acquired the promotion.
“The thing I see the most of is the promotion of the brand so far,” Anderson said via stream during our exclusive interview. “I told people all the time, why is it that the UFC is number one and Bellator was number two and it’s because nobody really knows about it. I say, ‘when’s the Bellator fight? I don’t know. That’s the problem.’ Bellator was great. They treat their employees and their fighters amazing. Can’t change that. I wouldn’t change it for a thing. But the one thing they lacked was promotion. You never knew when the next fight was.”
This move, powered by the acquisition of the PFL, could help change Anderson’s experience and that of the other fighters on the roster.
“Following our historic acquisition of Bellator, Professional Fighters League is proud to partner with Warner Bros. Discovery for the highly anticipated Bellator Champions Series to stream exclusively on Max for fans across the United States, at no extra cost to subscribers, when the global franchise launches on March 22,” said Peter Murray, CEO, Professional Fighters League. “We’re excited for audiences to tune into Bellator’s new home on Max for eight Bellator Champions Series events in 2024 taking place in iconic cities around the globe, featuring world title fights and the biggest stars in combat sports. There’s an incredible demand for premium, year-round MMA content from major media platforms and this is the latest milestone in PFL’s ambition to bring the sport’s best to audiences around the world.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Professional Fighters League to introduce a new live sport to the U.S. Warner Bros. Discovery content portfolio,” said Josh Walker, Chief Financial & Strategy Officer, Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming. “The addition of Bellator Champions Series offers our viewers an opportunity to experience highly anticipated mixed martial arts, nicely complementing our robust slate of can’t miss programming.”
The refreshing of Bellator’s home for events and content is a plus for MMA and combat sports in general. It also helps to expand the PFL’s growing reach through the sport more officially. Bellator fighters are scheduled to compete in this year’s PFL season across every weight class.
The deal with Warner Bros. Discovery gives the promotion under the PFL umbrella placement away from ESPN, the current home of the UFC and the network that carries the PFL’s regular season content.
