Bellator adds Russian sambo champ Marina Mokhnatkina to women's featherweight division

[MMALOPEZ]

A Bellator official today informed MMAjunkie that Mokhnatkina (4-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), who fights out of St. Petersburg, Russia, has signed an exclusive multi-fight deal with the organization.

At 30, Mokhnatkina is a six-time Russian sambo champion, two-time European champion and, most importantly, a four-time world champion, which is the highest level of the sport, with sambo not recognized as an Olympic sport.

 

[DDx2]

kind of dissapointing. hoped she at least tried to make it to UFC. even though her last fight didn't go according to plan, i'm sure 1-2 decent performances in FNG or Invicta could have get her a contract.
and i'm really questioning professionalism of people managing for her. for russian fighter signing with Bellator in 2019 is a great way to screw up a young career.

 

[RODNEY83]

Is this back to the future with Bellator? Bjorn Rebney signs Russian fighters, Viacom buys Bellator and Bellator began purging the Russian fighters stating they were too expensive because of travel considerations compared to the amount of viewership they were bringing to the table. And now Bellator is back to signing Russian fighters. It's like Bellator is doing things to go right back to where they started.

 

[Late Starter]

Is it me, or is bellator doing a much better job than the ufc of building its women's divisions?

Wouldn't be surprised to see them pick up what's left of the UFC's 145lb division - including cyborg - before too long.

 

[leto1776]

Is it me, or is bellator doing a much better job than the ufc of building its women's divisions?

Wouldn't be surprised to see them pick up what's left of the UFC's 145lb division - including cyborg - before too long.

It’s you.

 

[Xuh]

It's a good signing but I'd have liked to see Mokhnatkina or Jojua in Invicta for reasons of better competition (and maybe quicker UFC graduation I guess).

But I guess Invicta doesn't have money for Mokhnatkina whose management/husband/whoever probably see her as some sort of big dog and want to take as much as they can as quick as they can. Perhaps Invicta could still try and get Jojua some fights since she's been rotting on the sidelines since FNG seem to have abandoned the division since Jojua disposed of their star pet (Moknatkina).

Will be interesting to see how well she does, and how often she fights (hopefully more than just a token annual appearance on a euro card) in BelLOLtor anyway.

 

[Ying Li]

Ass pic?

 

[Kingz]

Is this back to the future with Bellator? Bjorn Rebney signs Russian fighters, Viacom buys Bellator and Bellator began purging the Russian fighters stating they were too expensive because of travel considerations compared to the amount of viewership they were bringing to the table. And now Bellator is back to signing Russian fighters. It's like Bellator is doing things to go right back to where they started.

Bellator never stopped signing the Kov, Enko, Ich, Skiy type Russians. Bjorn signed a lot of Dagestan Russians(Bjorn was probably the first to realize the immense talent in that region and bring it to North America) and that is what was purged from Cokers Bellator. There isn’t a single one on roster and that seems unfathomable in today MMA not to have any Caucas fighters on roster and have it not be deliberate

 

[RODNEY83]

Bellator never stopped signing the Kov, Enko, Ich, Skiy type Russians. Bjorn signed a lot of Dagestan Russians(Bjorn was probably the first to realize the immense talent in that region and bring it to North America) and that is what was purged from Cokers Bellator. There isn’t a single one on roster and that seems unfathomable in today MMA not to have any Caucas fighters on roster and have it not be deliberate

It's kind of weird with the Back To The Future vibe with Bellator. It's like they are returning to the very things that made the company attractive for Viacom to purchase in the first place.

 

[Strychnine]

Thread needed pics.