Caldwell eager to fight for second Bellator title
Bellator 204 couldn’t have gone much better for Darrion Caldwell, and he thinks a shot at promotional history now lies on the horizon.
Caldwell (13-1 mixed martial arts, 10-1 BMMA), Bellator’s current bantamweight champion, made it clear leading into this past weekend’s event in South Dakota that his current goal is to challenge for the promotion’s featherweight title as well in an effort to become the organization’s first two-division champion. It’s an accomplishment that has come to signify true greatness since Conor McGregor famously accomplished the feat in the UFC in 2016.
Ironically, it was a Bellator 204 loss by McGregor’s SBG Ireland teammate, James Gallagher (7-1, 4-1), that might have cleared Caldwell’s path for similar notoriety.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Caldwell told USA TODAY. “It didn’t come as a shock to me. The kid still has room to grow. He’s an up-and-comer. Let him do what he’s going to do, but you’ve got to stay humble. Hopefully that was a humbling experience for him to realize you’re really with some killers out here. We’re not playing.”
Gallagher, 21, is every bit as bold and brash as McGregor, and he insisted going into his Bellator 204 showdown with Ricky Bandejas that victory would bring him a shot at Caldwell’s title. But Bandejas wasn’t compliant, stunning the Irishman with a devastating right hand and then a brilliant side kick shortly after and downing Gallagher via firstround knockout.
Meanwhile, Caldwell took a non-title fight at 145 pounds in the main event, scoring a second-round knockout of Noad Lahat. With Gallagher out of the picture, at least temporarily, Caldwell says he expects promotion officials to grant his wish. “There’s no challengers for me at 135 pounds,” Caldwell said. “The next fight is Patricio ‘Pitbull.’ ”
Bellator President Scott Coker said he’s open to Caldwell’s plan but stopped short of committing to the booking. “Becoming a two-division Bellator champ is very important to Caldwell, and there are some exciting matchups at 145 pounds that would be great for him and the fans,” Coker said. “We’re open to seeing what he can do in the featherweight division, but there are still intriguing fights for him at 135.”
As USA TODAY first reported, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (27-4, 15-4) is expected to put his featherweight title on the line against Emmanuel Sanchez (17-3, 9-2) at a Nov. 15 Bellator event Israel. Caldwell wasn’t pleased with the news, insisting Freire took the fight as a means of avoiding a clash with him.
But with Gallagher’s loss, the bantamweight division doesn’t have any clear-cut challengers to Caldwell’s belt, so he’s happy to sit back at waiting for his shot at history and perhaps even doing one better.
“The 145-pound strap is going to be mine eventually,” Caldwell said. “Whenever Bellator is ready for me to fight for the 145-pound title, it’s going to happen. ... I need two straps, and then I’m going to 155, and I want three.”