MMA fans are in for a treat tonight as reigning Bellator women’s featherweight titleholder and former UFC champ Cris Cyborg is facing off in a rematch against Leslie Smith — the second time these two women have met in the cage — at the main event for Bellator 259. If you’re looking forward to seeing which fighter will emerge as the new Bellator featherweight queen, then you can tune in by signing up for a free trial of Showtime that’ll let you watch Bellator 259 live. Here’s what you need to know.
Bellator is owned by ViacomCBS, so all of its events currently air via either the CBS Sports Network and Showtime. If you have cable TV, then you can sign up for the CBS Sports Network through your service provider. Otherwise, your best bet to watch Bellator 259 live tonight is by signing up for a one-month Showtime free trial. That gets you a month’s worth of Showtime (and Bellator shows) without costing you anything. The prelims will also air on CBS and YouTube, however, so you don’t need to sign up for anything to watch the early fights ahead of the main card.
Discover Bellator 259
Bellator is the second-largest MMA league in the world (outsized only by the UFC) with a roster that boasts some of the best talent the combat sport has to offer. Many of its fighters have fought in the UFC and both women headlining tonight’s main event fall under that umbrella: Cris Cyborg (23-2, 18 KOs), currently the Bellator Women’s Featherweight Champ, held the UFC featherweight title before losing it to Amanda Nunes — the only loss during her stint with the league.
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Cyborg signed on with Bellator in late 2019 and immediately won the featherweight belt at her January 2020 debut. Challenging her for that title tonight is Leslie Smith (12-8, 5 KOs), another UFC alumnus. The two faced each other before at Cyborg’s UFC debut in May 2016. There, Cyborg scored a dominant victory over Smith with a TKO in the first round.
If you want to see the current lineup of 26 fighters entering the cage tonight, then you can check out the entire Bellator 259 fight card below. Then, sign up for your free 30-day trial of Showtime so you can stream Cyborg vs. Smith live. The main event starts at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT; the preliminary card starts off the show early at 5:30 p.m. ET.