Bellator returned to London with a welterweight fight pitting Paul Daley against Rory MacDonald serving as the main event of Bellator 179. Stav Economou was originally scheduled to face Karl Etherington in heavyweight bout. However, the bout was cancelled and Economous faced Dan Konecke. Neil Grove and Łukasz Parobiec were expected to fight in a Heavyweight bout. However, the fight was cancelled for undisclosed reasons. Michael Page was scheduled to face Derek Anderson as the co-main event. However, the fight was removed from the card after Page suffered a knee injury.

UCMMA 26: The Real Deal was an MMA event held in London, England on February 04, 2012. The main event was saw Linton Vassell vs. Aurelijus Kerpe for the vacant Light Heavyweight Championship.