Bellator has made some strange moves over the last few months between Kimbo Slice fighting a nobody and almost having that nobody be a death int he cage, but now an even stranger choice has happened as the promotion has dropped their Lightweight champion. in a mov similar to the release of Ben Askren, the company has let Lightweight champion Will Brooks go from the company. in a statement, they said that they had chosen not to renew his contract, but they also are not going to match any other companies offers which means they have no interest in keeping him in the fold. In fact, they have given promotional golden boy Michael Chandler another shot at the title.
Brooks came in with a lot of heat when he signed with Bellator in 2012 since he had finished 7 of his first 8 fights. Although, he hit a road bump in his first three fights when he was knocked out against Saad Awad in a tournament. He rebounded with eight straight wins that came over the likes of Awad, John Alessia, Michael Chandler twice and Dave Jensen. This run garnered him a tournament win, an interim title, the real title and two title defenses. Now, he is a superb fighter without a home.
Bellator is giving the Lightweight belt shot to Benson Henderson inadvertently, since they announced the former UFC champions intent to go back down to 155 int he same press release. They also informed the media that they had stripped Heavyweight champion Vitaly Minakov who had not defended the title in over two years despite having three fights outside the promotion. They kept him under contract, but something si weird with his contract since he has not fought here but can fight outside the organization. Ultimately, these are some strange choices for a promotion trying to be the clear number two organization in the world for MMA.