The official end of Bellator MMA (originally known as Bellator Fighting Championships from its debut in 2009 through 2012), coupled with the constant news of former Bellator fighters expressing their discontent with the PFL, has definitely brought on a wave of nostalgia for me – perhaps a bigger wave than I would have imagined. I’m extremely grateful for my time as a Bellator play-by-play commentator, which spanned 127 events and (somehow) exactly 1,250 fights from 2010 through 2015. One to never keep track of things like this, I went back and counted for this article. Even though I had already commentated Pride and M1 Global, when Bellator founder Bjorn Rebney hired me in November 2009, he gave me a gig that fully shifted me from being a soccer commentator to a fight commentator – which is exactly what I wanted, and for which I will always be extremely grateful. The announcement of Patricio Freire – arguably the greatest fighter in Bellator history and inarguably the fighter with the best-ever Bellator career – signing with the UFC definitely created a conversation about which other Bellator alumni could soon make this move. This also has opened up discussions about which now-retired Bellator greats could have gone to the UFC had they been given the chance, or seized the opportunity presented.