Check out the disclosed pay for all 30 fighters on Bellator 293, according to the California State Athletic Commission.
Thirty fighters competed Friday at Bellator 293 with [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag] and [autotag]Daniel James[/autotag] leading all disclosed payouts.
California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) executive director Andy Foster released a full list of fighter payouts Friday to MMA Junkie. The amounts reflect the disclosed payouts only and do not include any off-contract bonuses, sponsor payments, or discretionary bonuses.
The main event and co-main event winners were the only two fighters to pocket six-figure disclosed paydays as a result of their performances Friday. Former UFC bantamweight title challenger Zingano (14-4 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) earned $100,000 flat for her unanimous decision win over [autotag]Leah McCourt[/autotag] (7-2 MMA, 6-2 BMMA) in the co-main event. Then, main event winner James (15-6-1 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) earned to $50,000 show and a $50,000 win bonus for his victory over [autotag]Marcelo Golm[/autotag] (10-3 MMA, 1-3 BMMA).
Scroll below to see what the 30 fighters on Bellator 293 were paid – disclosed amounts only.
Cat Zingano and Leah McCourt put on one of the most entertaining, back-and-forth women’s fights of 2023 at Bellator 293.
TEMECULA, Calif. – [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag] and [autotag]Leah McCourt[/autotag] put on one of the most entertaining, back-and-forth female fights of 2023 on Friday night at Bellator 293, but one thing made the clear difference.
Damage.
That belonged to Zingano, who came away with a unanimous decision by scores of 29-28, 30-27, 29-28, much to the delight of the heavily supportive crowd at Pechanga Resort Casino.
The fight was full of transitional sequences on the mat. Zingano (14-4 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) and McCourt (7-3 MMA, 6-2 BMMA) each controlled and hurt the other at various points. But Zingano was more punishing, which underscored by a huge knee to McCourt’s face in the third round that caused a bloody gash on her forehead.
“I’m hard to keep on my back. I’ve heard that before,” Zingano said afterward. “She’s really tall and really strong and a lot of body. I’m not used to that, still, at this weight class. Yeah, I knew it was going to be a tussle with her, and it was going to be a lot of work. What I do know is I know how to cause damage and a lot of it. I think the damage made up for some of the transitional periods, and here we are.”
Zingano, a former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger, now finds herself in the driver’s seat of a Bellator featherweight title shot against, presumably, Cris Cyborg, who remains champion but hasn’t re-signed with the promotion since she fought out her contract in April 2022.
“I mean, right now, it sounds like it’s a vacant belt half the time,” Zingano said.
In the main event, [autotag]Marcelo Golm[/autotag] (10-3 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) takes on [autotag]Daniel James[/autotag] (14-6-1 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) at heavyweight. Golm is a -150 favorite at Tipico Sportsbook; the comeback on James is +120. Our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers are divided and have Golm with the slimmest possible lead at 6-5 in the picks.
In the co-feature, [autotag]Leah McCourt[/autotag] (7-2 MMA, 6-1 BMMA) meets former UFC title challenger [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag] (13-4 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) in a women’s featherweight bout that could determine the next title challenger. Zingano is the biggest favorite on the main card at -450, but she doesn’t have a shutout. One of our pickers is taking McCourt in an upset.
Also on the main card, [autotag]Aaron Jeffery[/autotag] (13-3 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) takes on former middleweight title challenger [autotag]John Salter[/autotag] (18-6 MMA, 8-3 BMMA). Jeffery is a -420 favorite, but he has just a narrow 6-5 lead in the picks from our staff members.
Our first of two unanimous picks is [autotag]Archie Colgan[/autotag] (6-0 MMA, 3-0 BMMA), who nearly is a 3-1 favorite in his lightweight bout against [autotag]Justin Montalvo[/autotag] (5-0 MMA, 2-0 BMMA). Their fight was elevated to the main card Friday.
And to open the main card, [autotag]Sullivan Cauley[/autotag] (5-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) is our second unanimous pick in his light heavyweight bout against [autotag]Luke Trainer[/autotag] (6-1 MMA, 3-1 BMMA). Cauley is a 2-1 favorite at the betting window.
In the MMA Junkie consensus picks, James (52 percent), Zingano (72 percent), Jeffery (65 percent), Colgan (77 percent) and Cauley (72 percent) are the choices.
Check out all the picks above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 293.
Check out the results from the official Bellator 293 fighter weigh-ins in Temecula, Calif.
Official weigh-ins for Bellator 293 took place Thursday at the Bellator host hotel.
The nearby Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif., hosts Friday’s event, which has a main card on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.
All fighters who actually made it to the scale Thursday made weight.
Among those who weighed in were [autotag]Marcelo Golm[/autotag] (10-3 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) and [autotag]Daniel James[/autotag] (14-6-1 MMA, 2-0 BMMA), who meet in the heavyweight main event, and [autotag]Leah McCourt[/autotag] (7-2 MMA, 6-1 BMMA) and [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag] (13-4 MMA, 3-0 BMMA), who fight in the women’s featherweight contenders bout co-feature.
A welterweight fight between [autotag]Rustam Khabilov[/autotag] (24-4 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) and [autotag]Jaleel Willis[/autotag] (16-4 MMA, 4-2 BMMA) was canceled minutes before weigh-ins. Willis’ manager Matt Weibel, of First Round Management, tweeted the cancellation was due to an issue on Khabilov’s side.
As a result of the cancellation, [autotag]Archie Colgan[/autotag] (6-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) vs. [autotag]Justin Montalvo[/autotag] (5-0 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) has been elevated to the main card.
The full Bellator 293 weigh-in results include:
MAIN CARD (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET)
Marcelo Golm (257.6) vs. Daniel James (265.4)
Leah McCourt (145.4) vs. Cat Zingano (145.2)
Aaron Jeffery (185.2) vs. John Salter (185.8)
Sullivan Cauley (205.8) vs. Luke Trainer (205.2)
Archie Colgan (155.4) vs. Justin Montalvo (154.4)
PRELIMINARY CARD (MMA Junkie, 7 p.m. ET)
Mandel Nallo (154.8) vs. Adam Piccolotti (156)
Jeff Creighton (169.8) vs. Joey Davis (169.2)
Lucas Brennan (145.4) vs. Josh San Diego (146)
Lance Gibson Jr. (156) vs. Vladimir Tokov (155.2)
Sara Collins (145.8) vs. Pam Sorenson (145.2)
Rakim Cleveland (240.4) vs. Christian Edwards (237.8)
Nick Browne (155.6) vs. Mike Hamel (155.6)
Ashley Cummins (119.2) vs. Randi Field (120) – 120-pound contract weight
Brandon Carrillo (135.4) vs. Bryce Meredith (135.6)
Maria Henderson (115.4) vs. Mackenzie Stiller (115.4)
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 293.
Cris Cyborg is just “noisy” to Cat Zingano heading into Bellator 293.
[autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag] has a big fight to focus on this Friday at Bellator 293, where she’ll meet Leah McCourt in what is likely a No. 1 contenders fight in the women’s featherweight division.
[autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag], on the other hand, is nowhere to be found. In fact, it’s coming up on a year since the reigning women’s 145-pound champion last stepped in the cage. That’s because her time with the Bellator remains in limbo after she fought out her contract, but she isn’t quite a free agent.
And yet, Cyborg has made claims of Zingano ducking her. Zingano can’t even take that seriously.
“She’s not even with the promotion, so I don’t know how you duck someone,” Zingano said Wednesday during Bellator 293 media day. “She tells me to sign a contract, but she has two contracts to sign to even get back in the promotion. I feel like she’s kind of a crazy lady yelling from the street corner right now, just trying to get anyone to talk to her, anyone to pay attention to her. She’s always complaining. She’s always got something negative to say.”
Zingano, who is 3-0 since joining Bellator in 2020, has said before that she’d love to fight Cyborg. Zingano, 40, had only one opportunity to win a major title in her career before, back in 2015 when she lost to then-UFC women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey in 14 seconds at UFC 184.
Another shot at gold, this time in Bellator, would be nice, but Zingano has business to take care of first against McCourt. If she does that and if Cyborg straightens out her situation with Bellator, she’ll be ready to get the ball rolling.
But for now?
“At this point, I kind of ignore her,” Zingano said. “Once those real conversations start happening, then we can do something about it. But right now it’s just noise. She’s noisy.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 293.
No fighter in Bellator history has ever started their tenure with the promotion by earning six straight first-round knockouts.
For the first time since October 2019, Bellator will travel to Temecula, Calif., on Friday with Bellator 293, which takes place at Pechanga Casino Resort with a main card that airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.
A matchup of surging heavyweight contenders will be featured in the main event. [autotag]Marcelo Golm[/autotag] (10-3 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) and [autotag]Daniel James[/autotag] (14-6-1 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) will put their unbeaten promotional records on the line as they meet in a five-round contest that will elevate the winner into the title conversation.
For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts about Bellator 293.
Check out which UFC veterans are in MMA and boxing action across the globe this weekend.
The UFC idle this week after a trip to San Antonio for UFC on ESPN 43, where [autotag]Cory Sandhagen[/autotag] picked up a big bantamweight win over [autotag]Marlon Vera[/autotag].
Elsewhere, many other MMA events are taking place, including Bellator and PFL kicking off their 2023 regular season. Those events, and others feature a number of familiar names that have competed under the UFC banner.
This week, there are a total of 32 veterans of the global MMA leader competing in MMA and boxing this week from March 30-April 1.
Check out the names and details about their bouts below.
Initially, Cat Zingano thought she was getting a Bellator title shot, then an interim shot. Neither happened.
[autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag] is in unusual territory.
Currently No. 1 in the official Bellator women’s featherweight rankings, Zingano (13-4 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) doesn’t really know where she stands beyond the fight that’s in front of her at Bellator 293.
“I was told the last couple fights I was going to be fighting for the title,” Zingano recently told MMA Junkie. “I believe (Cris) Cyborg’s contract went out, so she’s not signed to Bellator anymore. Technically, she’s a free agent. I want to say there’s something going on there because she left and went to boxing. She was doing all these other things where they weren’t sure what the next step was going to be in the division. I know she was negotiating with other companies. So I was kind of left wondering when it was going to start. I thought it was going to be against her.”
Zingano, 40, will fight Leah McCourt (7-2 MMA, 6-1 BMMA) in a title eliminator Friday at Bellator 293. The event takes place at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif.. The main card airs on Showtime after prelims on MMA Junkie.
The bout will be the three-round co-main event, but Zingano revealed the initial plan was to fight for an interim title.
“I think I was told after my last fight, even at that press conference, that I was going to fight before the holidays last year,” Zingano said. “Then, they kind of came and went without a plan. Then, I was told the fights were done for the year and to wait for January. January was going to be the plan and then January didn’t happen. So then it was February. And here we are, end of March, so I can’t care. It is what it is. I would prefer for it to be shorter in between but what can you do? Sometimes, the schedule doesn’t work out or matchmaking doesn’t work out.
“I’m ready and here for March 31. This is what I have on my hands. I just want to know if I’m training for a three-round fight or a five-round fight. Right now, it’s regular three rounds. There’s only so much you can control about it, so I was just told what I was told and here I am.”
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With Cyborg’s negotiations looming large over the Bellator women’s featherweight division, the future of the division as a whole is uncertain. According to Scott Coker, the promotion has some contractual ties to Cyborg until August, though the exact extent of those terms is unknown. Both parties have publicly expressed interest in continuing to work with each other going forward, but a deal has not been done since Cyborg most recently fought in MMA in April 2022.
As Zingano said, all she’s focused on is what she can control – even if most of the x-factors at the current moment are outside of it.
“It’s just an awkward situation, on one hand, to be getting called out and saying I’m dodging someone, even though I’ve worked my way up to be (champion),” Zingano said. “Meanwhile, that person is not even with the promotion. It’s just odd and awkward and seems like a little bit crazy. We’re going through the motions. I’m excited about this fight coming up. I can’t care about anything else. I’m 10 days out from fighting this girl I have respect for and that I think is going to be a great fight. That’s all that matters right now.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 293.
Check out the full lineup for Bellator 293, a 16-fight card filled with various undefeated prospects.
The full fight card for Bellator 293 is locked, pending any unforeseen withdrawals.
As previously announced, the card is headlined by heavyweight contenders [autotag]Marcelo Golm[/autotag] (10-3 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) and [autotag]Daniel James[/autotag] (14-6-1 MMA, 2-0 BMMA), and also features a co-main event between [autotag]Leah McCourt[/autotag] (7-2 MMA, 6-1 BMMA) and [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag] (13-4 MMA, 3-4 BMMA). The event airs on Showtime after prelims on MMA Junkie.
On Tuesday, the promotion announced its full 16-fight card for March 31 at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif. New additions include undefeated top prospects [autotag]Sullivan Cauley[/autotag] (5-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA), [autotag]Joey Davis[/autotag] (8-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA), [autotag]Lance Gibson Jr.[/autotag] (7-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA), and [autotag]Lucas Brennan[/autotag] (7-0 MMA, 7-0 BMMA).
Additionally, Bellator has signed three-time NCAA Division I All-American [autotag]Bryce Meredith[/autotag] (3-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) to a multifight deal. He will debut against [autotag]Brandon Carrillo[/autotag] (1-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA).
All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.
MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.
But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.
Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from Jan. 23-29.
