"Would love to see you back in the UFC" - Fans react after current champ is left baffled by "Bellator is dead now" reports

Bellator is now officially defunct but a reigning champion within that promotion did not have that formally communicated to them. PFL acquired Bellator a bit over a year ago and per Ariel Helwani, the latter entity will be formally dissolved with every event now bearing the PFL branding.

This seemed like an inevitability for many as the Donn Davis-led PFL is also going through multiple overhauls and restructuring the idea of a points-driven system in favor of a single-elimination tournament style. One person who seemed left out in the cold amid all of these systemic overhauls is the current BMMA light heavyweight champion.

Corey Anderson took to his personal X page to address this situation and posted:

"Imagine being the champion of an organization chilling on the couch and your wife walks in and tells you "did you see this? Bellator is dead now?"... And all you can do is shrug your shoulders in confusion... CUZ you still haven't heard a thing. Lol Yeaaaah, that was me."

X users began responding to this message from Anderson and a thread amassed with people offering up thoughts that were sympathetic to his situation but also hopeful for what could be next for him.

@Greg_Gampel said:

"Would love to see you back in the UFC champ!"

@ChrisJamesMMA stated:

"Such a terrible situation for all @BellatorMMA athletes"

@KnuckleHead035 quipped:

"Just means big things are coming champ. Keep grinding!"

Check out more comments below:

[Screenshots courtesy: @CoreyA_MMA thread on X]

Check out Corey Anderson's post regarding BMMA ceasing operations below:

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The Bellator tenure of Corey Anderson

Bellator welcomed Corey Anderson to the fold after he had an impressive four-fight win streak snapped in a rematch against Jan Blachowicz that saw the Polish powerhouse tie up their series.

The 35-year-old carved a swath through the promotion right away with all finishes of Melvin Manhoef, Dovlet Yagshimuradov, and Ryan Bader. This string of impactful wins punched his ticket to the BMMA light heavyweight tournament finals before an accidental clash of heads in the tournament final led to a no-contest.

This took place in April 2022 against Vadim Nemkov with the two having a rematch later that same year. In November 2022, Anderson would have his first loss under the BMMA banner as he took a unanimous decision defeat to Nemkov.

'Overtime' would turn things around by way of a split decision victory over Phil Davis in Anderson's lone MMA outing of 2023. Anderson would then cement himself as the BMMA Light Heavyweight champion by defeating Karl Moore on points in Mar. 2024.

The Illinois native had another planned bout with Vadim Nemkov set for Jan. 25 this year but that contest has since been scrapped with Nemkov now set to fight Tim Johnson on that PFL card.