Darrion Caldwell

Machida vs. Sonnen June 14, 2019 Madison Square Garden New York, NY The event featured a Bellator Welterweight Championship bout between the champion Rory MacDonald and Neiman Gracie. The bout served as both a title defense for MacDonald and a semi-final match in the Bellator Welterweight World Grand Prix. The event also featured a light heavyweight bout between former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida and Chael Sonnen, as well as a Bellator Bantamweight Championship bout between current champ Darrion Caldwell and Kyoji Horiguchi. The bout was a rematch from the 2018 meeting between the two that took place at RIZIN 14 on New Year's Eve.

Bellator 184: Dantas vs. Caldwell took place on October 6, 2017 at the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. The event aired live in prime time on Spike TV.

RIZIN 14 live from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The biggest event in the promotion’s history features 14 fights in the final MMA event of the year. In the night’s headliner, boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr. competes in the country of Japan for the first time in a three-round boxing exhibition with Japanese prodigy Tenshin Nasukawa, who is undefeated as a professional combat-sports athlete. The co-headliner features two of the best bantamweights in the world. Bellator bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell challenges Kyoji Horiguchi for the inaugural RIZIN bantamweight title.

Bellator 228: Pitbull vs. Archuleta is scheduled to take place on September 28, 2019 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The event will take place on DAZN. The event will feature a Bellator Featherweight Championship bout between the champion Patricio Freire and Juan Archuleta, which a first round bout in the Bellator Featherweight World Grand Prix.

Bellator 167 was headlined by a bantamweight fight pitting Darrion Caldwell against Joe Taimanglo. Caldwell and Taimanglo previously met in a catchweight bout at Bellator 159. Caldwell did well in the first two rounds, but was caught with a fight-ending guillotine choke nine seconds into the third round. The defeat was the first loss of Caldwell’s career and Caldwell was a 14-1 favorite entering the bout, making the upset the fourth biggest in MMA history. Taimanglo was riding a four-fight winning streak into the rematch. Caldwell came into the first bout with Taimanglo off a career-best win over Joe Warren at Bellator 151. A featherweight bout between Pat Curran and John Teixeira was also scheduled for this card. However, the fight was cancelled in early November due to an injury sustained by Curran. Teixeira instead faced Justin Lawrence.