The Bellator MMA Heavyweight Title: A Visual History

Ryan Bader returned to Bellator MMA’s heavyweight division like a man coming back from a two-year trip to find a squatter in his home.

In the main event of Bellator 273 on Saturday in his home state of Arizona, “Darth” turned away interim champ Valentin Moldavsky via unanimous decision, unifying the Bellator heavyweight title that had been split since Moldavsky and Timothy Johnson met at Bellator 261 last summer for the interim belt. Afterward, the former two-division champ stated that he planned to stay at heavyweight, apparently conceding that his 1-2 run at light heavyweight over the past two years marked the end of his exploits there.

It was a welcome return to normalcy for the long-stagnant Bellator heavyweight division, though Bader’s win still represented a number of uncomfortable firsts: the first undisputed title fight in 27 months. The first successful Bellator heavyweight title defense in nearly eight years, and only the third ever. The promotion immediately announced Bader’s next bout, a rematch with Cheick Kongo in May, in Kongo’s hometown of Paris, no less. While that choice might have surprised some, in light of an obvious rematch with Fedor Emelianenko that beckons now that Bader has fought for titles against the Russian’s top two protégés, any news that involves an upcoming title fight is frankly good news.

In fairness to Bader, however, he didn’t create the mess that is the Bellator heavyweight title picture; he only inherited it. In the entire 11-year plus history of the division, only one champion has been crowned by defeating his predecessor in the cage.

The graphic below tells the story eloquently. Due to the sheer physics that make the division so volatile — the usual shorthand is “everyone has knockout power” — it is exceedingly difficult for a heavyweight in any promotion to sustain a title reign. Consider that until Stipe Miocic came along, nobody in the 20-year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight division had managed to defend the title three times in a row.

Bellator seemed well aware of the big-man conundrum, as it did not even introduce a heavyweight title until Season 4. The champ who emerged from the Season 4 tourney, Cole Konrad, was a young, undefeated prospect with two NCAA Division I wrestling titles on his mantel, and appeared to be the future of the division — that is, until he abruptly retired at age 27. That set the tone for the subsequent history of the division. The four men who have held the belt have all been excellent fighters, among the best heavyweights in the sport, but a division has never truly coalesced around them. Konrad’s retirement likely stemmed from his frustration with his sporadic and frankly unchallenging fight schedule, while Vitaly Minakov simply shrugged and kept taking fights in his native Russia as Bellator stripped him of the belt. Much like the early years of its UFC counterpart, Bellator’s heavyweight features champions walking away for other promotions, and like the UFC middleweight and lightweight divisions, endured several years during which there was no champion at all.

Bader put an end to that nearly three-year interregnum with his breathtakingly dominant run through the heavyweight Grand Prix, as he wiped out Muhammed Lawal, Matt Mitrione and Emelianenko without having a single strike landed on him. That was good enough to make him Bellator’s first simultaneous two-division champion, but it had required him to leave his light heavyweight belt in mothballs for over two years as the heavyweight tournament played itself out. He then returned the favor, losing his light heavyweight title and entering the Grand Prix, leaving the heavyweight belt undefended for so long that the promotion created the interim title last summer.

Here is the history of the Bellator heavyweight title and the times it was won, lost or defended. It tells the story of a series of worthy titleholders, and a promotion that has thus far struggled to hold their interest.