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Check out our staff members’ picks and analysis for Bellator Champions Series: Dublin.
Bellator is in Ireland with the welterweight title on the line at the top of the card.
Bellator Champions Series: Dublin (Max) takes place Saturday at 3Arena in Dublin.
(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)
Get pick results from our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers, as well as additional analysis, below.
Watch a live stream of the Bellator Champions Series: Dublin ceremonial fighter weigh-ins Friday.
Bellator Champions Series: Dublin ceremonial fighter weigh-ins take place Friday, and you can catch a live video stream of the proceedings here on MMA Junkie at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT).
The weigh-ins take place at 3Arena in Dublin, which hosts Saturday’s event (Max).
A welterweight championship fight headlines the event. Champion Jason Jackson (18-4) will put his title on the line for the first time when he takes on unbeaten challenger Ramazan Kuramagomedov (12-0). In the co-feature, Cage Warriors interim featherweight champion Paul Hughes (11-1) makes his way to Bellator to take on Bobby King (12-6).
Check out the proceedings from Ireland in the video above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event page for Bellator Champions Series: Paris.
The official weigh-ins for Bellator Champions Series: Dublin are in the books, and the main card fighters hit their marks.
The official weigh-ins for Bellator Champions Series: Dublin are in the books, and all fighters hit their marks.
In the main event, welterweight champion Jason Jackson (18-4) puts his title on the line against challenger Ramazan Kuramagomedov (12-0). Both fighters came in just under the 170-pound title limit. Jackson was 169.9; Kuramagomedov was 169.8.
#BellatorDublin Official Weigh In Result ⚖️
Jason Jackson – 169.9lbs ✅
Ramazan Kuramagomedov – 169.8lbs ✅Presented by @ThatPrizeGuy 🤝#BellatorDublin | TOMORROW
Live on MAX | 12P ET pic.twitter.com/M9gUD5dQcv— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) June 21, 2024
The weigh-ins took place at the Bellator host hotel. 3Arena in Dublin hosts Saturday’s event (Max).
The full Bellator Champions Series: Dublin weigh-in results included:
MAIN CARD (Max, 2 p.m. ET)
PRELIMINARY CARD (Max, 11 a.m. ET)
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator Champions Series: Dublin.
Check out these photos of the fighters atop the Bellator Champions Series: Dublin card in faceoffs outside 3Arena.
Check out these photos of the fighters atop the Bellator Champions Series: Dublin card in faceoffs outside 3Arena. (Photos courtesy of Bellator MMA)
Undefeated Michelle Montague discusses the most helpful advice she has received so far in her young MMA career.
Undefeated [autotag]Michelle Montague[/autotag] is growing into her own as an MMA fighter thanks to key advice from some of the best women in the game today.
American Top Team’s Montague (4-0) looks to remain perfect in her young MMA career when she meets Karolina Sobek at Bellator Champions Series: Dublin at 3Arena in Ireland.
On the mats in Coconut Creek, Fla., Montague hones her skills alongside some of the world’s best competitors, including UFC fighters Kayla Harrison and Mayra Bueno Silva, who have handed down a key piece of advice to the New Zealand-born featherweight.
“When you’re in camp, you have to have patience,” Montague told MMA Junkie Radio. “Whether it’s in the transitions or whatever, just the key thing I remember all the time, and I think about it probably every training session, is patience. Like taking that moment to breathe, whether it’s between rounds, during the round, or in certain positions or even waiting for fight news. The term ‘patience,’ I think, covers it all.”
Perfect so far in her pro MMA career, Montague has yet to see the judges’ scorecards. She has finished every opponent thus far with the same technique, a rear-naked choke. Despite her success, she admits her game is still being molded and is confident in her growth thanks to her championship-caliber training partners like Harrison and “Sheetara.”
Her fight against Sobek (4-2) will be her first in 10 months. It’s a longer wait than she would have liked, so her patience has been tested, but it does give her time to fully absorb the lessons from her mentors as she hopes to progress to a more active schedule.
“I think that recipe is forever growing, especially as you get more skills across the board,” Montague said. “That’s never going to be complete for I feel like any fighter, just based on who you fight and who you’ve become. Especially women don’t develop or mature completely in athletics until they’re 30, and I just turned that. It’s an interesting thought, because yeah, (I’m) young in the professional career, absolutely, but not that young in life.
“… Being where I am and having the right people around me and making sure I soak all that in as much as possible is what’s going to add to that recipe.”
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Jason Jackson wants to prove he’s the best welterweight across all organizations.
[autotag]Jason Jackson[/autotag] wants to prove he’s the best welterweight across all organizations.
Jackson (18-4 MMA, 8-1 BMMA) defends his welterweight title against Ramazan Kuramagomedov (12-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in the Bellator Champions Series: Dublin main event June 22 at 3Arena in Dublin.
The former Ultimate Fighter alum is enjoying his best career run having won eight straight – including back-to-back stoppages of Yaroslav Amosov and Ray Cooper III. However, Jackson still feels like he doesn’t get the credit he deserves.
“I just feel like they still doubting me because I haven’t been on the UFC level to really make it look easy as I’m making it look right now,” Jackson told MMA Junkie Radio. “I’ve beat former UFC champions and UFC competitors and contenders, so once I get there, they will realize they’ve been sleeping on me.”
With PFL recently acquiring Bellator and Bellator’s future uncertain, Jackson hopes to eventually make his way to the octagon to stake his claim as the No. 1 welterweight.
“I think I’m going to clean out Bellator and clean out PFL to where they’re like, ‘Man, we need to let this guy go do something else and continue on building his legacy,'” Jackson said. “And I want to go to the UFC and become champion there and clean out the division, as well, before I hang it up.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator Champions Series: Dublin.
We want your predictions for Saturday’s Bellator Champions Series event in Dublin.
We want your predictions for Friday’s Bellator Champions Series event in Dublin.
Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT).
Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the Bellator Champions Series: Dublin main card staff predictions we release ahead of the event. Bellator Champions Series: Dublin (Max) takes place Saturday at 3Arena.
Make your picks for the main card fights below.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Bellator Champions Series: Dublin.
Bellator is back this week, and the welterweight title is on the line in Ireland.
Here’s how to watch Bellator Champions Series: Dublin, with a complete lineup and look at the title fight in one of the world’s most iconic cities.
Veteran commentator Jimmy Smith is headed back to Bellator, the brand that he rose to notoriety with for seven years.
Jimmy Smith is headed home.
The veteran combat sports and professional wrestling broadcaster and radio host will man the booth once again in Bellator as he’s rejoined the promotion.
Promotion officials Tuesday confirmed Smith’s return to MMA Junkie with his debut scheduled for June 22 at Bellator Champions Series: Dublin. At this time, Smith is expected to solely call Bellator cards, not PFL-branded events. MMA Fighting was first to report the news.
Smith, 46, was part of a two-man Bellator broadcast booth from just after the promotion’s second season in 2010, up until his departure in December 2017. One month later, Smith signed a one-year deal with the UFC. He worked for the promotion from January 2018 to January 2019. His contract was not renewed and he later signed on to call fights for Invicta FC.
In May 2021, Smith was hired as play-by-play commentator for WWE’s Monday Night Raw. In October 2022, Smith and WWE split. Smith had served as host of SiriusXM Fight Nation from September 2020 until mid-May 2024.
The brother of former UFC star Zabit Magomedsharipov looks to maintain his undefeated record in Dublin.
[autotag]Khasan Magomedsharipov[/autotag], brother of former UFC star Zabit Magomedsharipov, has his next challenge in front of him.
A undefeated 23-year-old featherweight fighter, Magomedsharipov (9-0) returns June 22 at Bellator Champions Series: Dublin against [autotag]Tyler Mathison[/autotag] (6-3), promotion officials informed MMA Junkie on Thursday. The event takes place at 3Arena in Dublin and streams on Max.
Magomedsharipov competes for the first time in the PFL-Bellator era. He entered the promotion at 5-0 in 2021 and has since won four more fights with three of them finishes. He has three knockouts and four submissions in nine professional fights.
Mathison, 32, takes the step up to a major promotion for the first time, though has competed for various top-level regional promotions, including LFA, CFFC, and Fury FC. He trains out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas and has won four of his most recent five outings.
With the addition, the Bellator Champions Series: Dublin lineup includes:
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator Champions Series: Dublin.
