Bellator 226: Ryan Bader vs. Cheick Kongo fight date, price, how to watch, live stream

Steven Muehlhausen

Bellator 226: Ryan Bader vs. Cheick Kongo fight date, price, how to watch, live stream image

Bellator history will be made on Saturday, Sept. 7 at Bellator 226 from the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.

Ryan Bader will be the first fighter to hold two championships at the same time and make a title defense when he puts the heavyweight title on the line against Cheick Kongo, live and exclusively on DAZN. The card also features the first four bouts of the 16-man featherweight grand prix. 

Bader (27-5), who also holds the light heavyweight title, became the first person in the company's history to hold two belts simultaneously when he steamrolled through the heavyweight grand prix, highlighted by his 35-second knockout of Fedor Emelianenko in January. The 36-year-old is on a seven-fight winning streak with five of those victories coming under the Bellator banner. 

Kongo (30-10-2) gets another chance to gain the first world title of his career. In April 2014 at Bellator 115, the Frenchman lost by unanimous decision to Vitaly Minakov. Since then, Kongo's won 10 of 11 including his last eight to net the crack at Bader. 

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The first four bouts of the 145-pound grand prix are former title challenger Emmanuel Sanchez taking on top prospect Tywan Claxton, Sam Sicilia vs. Roberto de Carvalho, former two-time Bellator featherweight champion Daniel Straus facing Derek Campos and former featherweight champion Pat Curran squaring off with Ádám Borics.

Bader and Kongo is an intriguing fight. Will Bader do to Kongo what he did when he took on a more prominent heavyweight in Matt Mitrione in the semifinals of the grand prix when the All-American wrestler from Arizona St. used his vast wrestling skills to neutralize the heavy-handed Mitrione? Or can Kongo keep it on the feet and not playing into Bader's hands? 

All four of the grand prix bouts should be highly entertaining — especially Sanchez vs. Claxton. Claxton is receiving a tremendous opportunity after only five fights, and is the wild card of the entire tournament. He could do what Bader did — win the whole thing and become the Bellator featherweight champion.

Here's a complete guide to Bellator 226 — streaming on DAZN rather than traditional pay-per-view — including the undercard and more.

What time is Bellator 226?

  • Undercard: 6:45 p.m. ET
  • Main card: 10 p.m. ET
  • Main event: 12:30 a.m. ET (approximate)

The undercard for Bellator 226 will start at 6:45 p.m. ET on Saturday, Sept 7. Bader and Kongo are expected to make their ring walks at about 12:30 a.m. ET. 

How to watch, live stream Bellator 226

Bellator 226 is not available via traditional pay-per-view. Instead, fans in North America can watch the fight by streaming it on DAZN.

DAZN is available on a variety of platforms, including Roku, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, iOS, Android, Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Playstation 3, as well as Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari browsers via DAZN.com.

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How much does Bellator 226 cost?

A new subscriber to DAZN can sign up for a monthly subscription or annual pass to watch the fight. The annual pass — which includes access to all of DAZN’s live events, as well as highlights, replays, behind-the-scenes features, original shows and live reports — is $99.99, which averages out to a little over $8 a month. For those who want a monthly plan instead of the longer-term value, fight fans can sign up for a monthly option for $19.99.

For current subscribers, the event is already included as part of your plan. 

Where is Bellator 226 taking place?

Ryan Bader and Cheick Kongo will fight at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. Bader fights at the venue for the second time while Kongo competes there for the third time.

Ryan Bader record and bio

Name: Ryan Bader
Nationality:  American
Born: June 7, 1983
Height: 6-2 
Reach: 74″
Record: 27-5

Cheick Kongo record and bio

Name: Cheick Kongo
Nationality: French
Born: May 17, 1975
Height: 6-4
Reach: 82" 
Total fights: 42
Record: 30-10-2

Bellator 226 fight card

Main card

  • Ryan Bader (c) vs. Cheick Kongo for Bader's Heavyweight title
  • Sam Sicilia vs. Roberto de Carvalho; Featherweight grand prix first round
  • Daniel Straus vs. Derek Campos; Featherweight grand prix first round
  • Pat Curran vs. Ádám Borics; Featherweight grand prix first round
  • Emmanuel Sanchez vs. Tywan Claxton; Featherweight grand prix first round
  • Gaston Bolanos vs. Daniel Carey; Featherweight 

Preliminary card

  • John Maċapa vs. Ashleigh Grimshaw; Featherweight 
  • Ivan Batinich vs. Daniel Compton; Middleweight 
  • Cornelius Savage vs. Evan Gubera; Middleweight 
  • Christopher Gonzalez vs. Luis Vargas; Lightweight 
  • Cass Bell vs. Isaiah Rocha; Bantamweight 
  • Favian Gutierrez vs. Alan Benson; Middleweight 
  • Amber Leibrock vs. Jessica Borga; Women's Featherweight
  • Peter Ishiguro vs. Elias Anderson; Catchweight (140 lbs.) 
  • James Terry vs. Batsumberel Dagvadorj; Welterweight 
  • Daniel Gonzalez vs. Jonathan Adams; Flyweight 
  • Adam Piccolotti vs. Jacob Smith; Lightweight 
  • Hyder Amil vs. Ignacio Ortiz; Featherweight 
  • Abraham Vaesau vs. Renato Alves; Welterweight 

Steven Muehlhausen

Steven Muehlhausen Photo

Steven Muehlhausen is a contributing writer for DAZN News. He writes features and news stories, and provides analysis relating to the world of boxing. Over the past five years, he has interviewed some of the biggest names in combat sports, including Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Terence Crawford, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Bill Goldberg.