Eduardo Dantas

Photo credit to Eduardo Dantas' Tapology page

Eduardo Dantas leaves Bellator and eyes UFC

Eduardo Dantas is now a free agent.

The former two-time Bellator MMA bantamweight champion has told MMA Fighting. His last bout was the final fight on his contract. That last outing saw him move up to featherweight where Dantas would lose to current Bellator bantamweight champion Juan Archuleta. This loss came via second-round KO in June 2019.

Prior to that Archuleta loss, Dantas had posted a 1-2 record with back to back losses to Michael McDonald and Darrion Caldwell. A unanimous decision win over Toby Misech reinserted him into the win column.

Having been with the promotion since 2011 when they were still in their tournament format, it seems like Dantas is ready to now explore the free market and get a better sense of his value.

Purportedly, Dantas was already given an offer but it was for a weight class higher in a featherweight grand prix. It seems like Eduardo Dantas has the express goal of competing in the bantamweight division. He specifically wants to ply his trade within the UFC’s ranks.

Eduardo Dantas

If Dantas joins the UFC’s 135 lb ranks, he would further bolster an already deep weight class. Pundits and fans alike within MMA are regularly remarking about how stacked that division is. How this is a banner era for bantamweights.

Should he get his wish to sign with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Dantas would join a division that features names like Jose Aldo, Dominick Cruz, Marlon Moraes, Aljamain Sterling, Cody Garbrandt, Cory Sandhagen, and Frankie Edgar.

Eduardo “Dudu” Dantas is a 28 fight veteran with 4 (T)KO victories and 6 submission wins to his credit.

Dantas has significant wins over some of the more prolific 135 pounders that have ever come through the Bellator MMA ranks. Dudu picked up victories over names like Joe Warren, Marcos Galvão twice, Wilson Reis, and Zach Makovsky.

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Dylan Bowker
I've been enamored with combat sports for as long as I can remember. I've hosted MMA talk shows Lights Out and Pure Fight Radio with featured guests like Jens Pulver, Roy Nelson, Miesha Tate, Mark Coleman, and more. I've been an MMA broadcaster for XFFC as well as BTC and have done play by play commentary on live pay per view on GFL as well as FITE TV. I've provided written, audio, and video content covering some of the biggest MMA promotions like Rumble in the Cage, Unified MMA, and King of the Cage. I've worked as a sports entertainment personality for over five years and given play-by-play or featured promotions of KSW, ONE Championship, TKO, and Invicta FC. My work can be found in the USA Today Sports affiliate MMA Torch, Cageside Press, MMA Sucka, and Liberty Multimedia.