Darrion Caldwell Still Chasing Multiple Bellator MMA Divisional Titles

When he moved up to featherweight, former 135-pound Bellator MMA champion Darrion Caldwell (15-4, 12-4 BMMA) envisioned a bright future. He was coming off back-to-back defeats at the hands of Kyoji Horiguchi, but was arguably one of the front runners in the featherweight grand prix. Unfortunately for him, his path to the finale was suddenly disrupted when A.J. McKee submitted him via neck crank in the semifinals at Bellator 253. Since then, he returned to the 135-pound division; he still wants to pursue his dreams by becoming a two-division champion.

“My goal is to be a two-division champion,” he said while talking with Sherdog. “I’ve always been a champion in one division, I’ve never been champion in two divisions. Fighting gives you that opportunity, so I’m going back down. I want that title, and next is the 145-pound division champion and title.”

The 33-year old moved to Sanford MMA in 2021, a decision that he considers proper to reach his goal.

“There’s levels to all of this, you know? I hate to be left behind,” he said. “My training has evolved from like a level four of five to like a level 10. It’s maxed out, all the pieces I put together in just a short period of time. I’m growing, and so right now, you’re looking at a dollar store as opposed to Walmart. I started shopping at the Walmart, no more dollar store shopping for me.”

Tudor Leonte started writing about mixed martial arts in 2013 for Italian media outlets. His journey with Sherdog begun in 2018 and now he covers One Championship and countless European shows. You can follow him on Twitter @Tudor_leo.