Bellator Locks Down Bantamweights Sergio Pettis, Patrick Mix With Long-Term Deals

.@BellatorMMA is proud to announce that No. 4-ranked men's pound-for-pound Bantamweight World Champion @sergiopettis and Interim Bantamweight Champion @TeamMixMMA have been re-signed to multi-fight contract extensions. https://t.co/VS8xshuZrd pic.twitter.com/T1UZqwbpWu

— Bellator Public Relations (@BellatorPR) July 13, 2023

Bellator MMA is making sure that the top of its bantamweight division is sticking around for the foreseeable future.

Per a press release on Thursday from the promotion, Bellator has signed bantamweight champion Sergio Pettis (23-5) and interim titleholder Patrick Mix (18-1) to extended multi-fight deals. The league has done so prior to their 135-pound unification match, which is set to go down at an undisclosed date. The terms of the contracts are not being made public, nor how many fights either man has agreed to with Bellator. The fighters will remain exclusive to the organization.

In June, Pettis staved off Bellator great Patricio Freire from his attempt at becoming the first three-division champ in major MMA history. Over the course of five rounds, “The Phenom” handled the typically aggressive Freire, with his speed and unexpected power making the difference en route to a pair of 50-45 scorecards along with one tallying 49-46. This made the Roufusport product the second bantamweight kingpin in company history to record two consecutive defenses, with the first Eduardo Dantas.

Facing Pettis at a date still undetermined for the undisputed strap will be Mix, who blazed through the grand prix by outworking Kyoji Horiguchi, tapping Magomed Magomedov and sparking Raufeon Stots in the span of a year. In the process, Mix claimed the interim belt and a million-dollar check, the former created when Pettis could not enter the tournament due to injury. Since losing to Juan Archuleta for the vacant throne in 2020, Mix has not lost, with four finishes across his five victories. Of note, he is the first to tap out submission specialist James Gallagher, the first to finish Magomedov and just one of two to beat Stots.