Bellator 164: Koreshkov vs. Lima 2 was held on November 10, 2016 at the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv, Israel. The event was headlined by two of the world's top Welterweights. Bellator champion Andrey Koreshkov met former champion Bellator Douglas Lima in a rematch in the main event. Koreshkov won the welterweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Lima at Bellator 140. He defended the belt earlier this year with a dominant win over former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson at Bellator 153. Lima won the vacant welterweight title with a second-round TKO of Rick Hawn at Bellator 117. After a lengthy layoff, he fought Koreshkov and lost via unanimous decision. After his loss to Koreshkov, he was out for a full year, but came back in July to defeat Paul Daley at Bellator 158.

Bellator 177: Dantas vs. Higo took place on April 14, 2017 at Budapest Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary . The event aired on Spike TV. This event marked Bellator's second event in Hungary. The event featured both MMA and kickboxing bouts. The main event was originally scheduled to feature Eduardo Dantas against Darrion Caldwell, but Caldwell withdrew due to injury. Leandro Higo stepped in as a replacement. Due to the short notice, the fight was changed from a Bantamweight title bout to a non-title contest at a catchweight of 139 pounds. Bellator Kickboxing 6 was headlined by a Welterweight world title rematch featuring Zoltan Laszak against Karim Ghajji. Additionally, two-time Glory Featherweight Champion Gabriel Varga made his Bellator Kickboxing debut against Hungarian Gabor Gorbics.

Bellator 190: Carvalho vs. Sakara took place on December 9, 2017 at the Nelson Mandela Forum in Florence, Italy. The event aired on Spike TV. A Middleweight world title fight match pitting Rafael Carvalho against Alessio Sakara will served as the main event of Bellator 190. Occurring also on this card is Bellator Kickboxing 8 headlined by Lightweight title bout pitting Giorgio Petrosyan against Youdwicha.