Bellator announces eight-man bantamweight grand prix for 2022

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – For months, Bellator president Scott Coker has been peppered with questions about when the promotion’s next grand prix will get underway and which weight class it will be. Those questions were answered Friday.

During the Bellator 272 broadcast, the promotion announced the next tournament will take place in the bantamweight division and feature eight of the promotion’s top fighters at 135 pounds.

The field will consist of champion Sergio Pettis and Kyoji Horiguchi, who meet in tonight’s Bellator 271 headliner, along with former bantamweight champ Juan Archuleta, popular Irish fighter James Gallagher, Pitbull Brothers protege Leandro Higo, former ACB champion Magomed Magomedov, and rising contender Raufeon Stots.

The eight tournament fighters are the most recent title fight competitors, as well as the top six contenders from the official Bellator rankings as of Friday.

No matchups or dates were revealed, but a Bellator official told MMA Junkie the promotion is targeting the first quarter of 2022 to begin the tournament.

Since Coker took over as Bellator president in 2014, the promotion has held four grand prixs, making bantamweight the fifth. The Bellator welterweight grand prix was launched first in 2018, followed by heavyweight in 2018, featherweight in 2019, and light heavyweight in 2020, which has reached the final between champion Vadim Nemkov and Corey Anderson.

Like other grand prixs, the winner of the bantamweight tournament will earn $1 million in addition to the Bellator title.