Valerie Letourneau Signs With Bellator
Valerie Letourneau Signs With Bellator
Former UFC fighter Valerie Letourneau signs with Bellator.
If Canadians were looking for a reason to tune into Bellator, the promotion’s most recent signing might just convince them.
After Valerie Letourneau appeared in the audience at Bellator 178 on Friday, April 21, it was reported by MMA Fighting that a deal between the two parties was close. MMA Junkie’s Chamatkar Sandhu confirmed the report via Twitter.
The Montreal native put together an impressive three-fight winning streak upon entering the UFC that included victories over Elizabeth Phillips, Jessica Rakoczy and Maryna Moroz. However, she is most well-known to mixed martial arts fans for her UFC 193 title bout loss to UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. In the fight, Letourneau used her tools to make the bout more competitive than expected, but ultimately was unable to walk away with the victory.
She followed the bout up with two more losses; the first a TKO loss to Joanne Calderwood, then a split decision loss to Viviane Pereira.
Letourneau has developed a reputation of fighting all comers throughout her career on the Canadian fight scene, losing early career fights to Sarah Kaufman, Alexis Davis and Claudia Gadelha; all three of which went on to UFC superstardom.
While Bellator has no women’s flyweight champion to date, that is expected to change. With the signing of Letourneau, Iliama-Lei Macfarlane’s victory over Jessica Middleton at Bellator 178 might just make her a top contender for whenever the promotion decides to crown a champion.
After Valerie Letourneau appeared in the audience at Bellator 178 on Friday, April 21, it was reported by MMA Fighting that a deal between the two parties was close. MMA Junkie’s Chamatkar Sandhu confirmed the report via Twitter.
The Montreal native put together an impressive three-fight winning streak upon entering the UFC that included victories over Elizabeth Phillips, Jessica Rakoczy and Maryna Moroz. However, she is most well-known to mixed martial arts fans for her UFC 193 title bout loss to UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. In the fight, Letourneau used her tools to make the bout more competitive than expected, but ultimately was unable to walk away with the victory.
She followed the bout up with two more losses; the first a TKO loss to Joanne Calderwood, then a split decision loss to Viviane Pereira.
Letourneau has developed a reputation of fighting all comers throughout her career on the Canadian fight scene, losing early career fights to Sarah Kaufman, Alexis Davis and Claudia Gadelha; all three of which went on to UFC superstardom.
While Bellator has no women’s flyweight champion to date, that is expected to change. With the signing of Letourneau, Iliama-Lei Macfarlane’s victory over Jessica Middleton at Bellator 178 might just make her a top contender for whenever the promotion decides to crown a champion.