5 Defining Moments: Darrion Caldwell

After a failed run in the Bellator MMA featherweight grand prix, Darrion Caldwell has gone back to more familiar haunts and the site of his greatest successes.

Caldwell will return to the bantamweight division for the first time in nearly two years when he confronts Leandro Higo in the Bellator 259 co-headliner on Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Sanford MMA export has recorded six wins across his past nine outings, losing only to Kyoji Horiguchi (twice) and A.J. McKee—two men with a combined record of 46-3. Caldwell sports eight finishes among his 15 career victories.

As “The Wolf” prepares for his three-round battle with Higo, a look at five of the moments that have come to define him:

1. Full Throttle

Caldwell was indeed ready for primetime, as he staked his claim as the No. 1 contender in Bellator MMA’s bantamweight division and put Joe Warren to sleep with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their Bellator 151 headliner on March 4, 2016 at the Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. The end came 3:23 into Round 1. A former two-division Bellator champion, Warren was a non-factor. Caldwell executed a pair of takedowns and a spectacular belly-to-back suplex, sandwiching ground-and-pound between the techniques. He then advanced to Warren’s back with little resistance, slipped in the choke and waited for referee Dan Miragliotta to intervene.

2. Hail to the King

“The Wolf” found his way to Bellator’s pantheon of champions, just as many predicted he would when he joined the organization as an undefeated prospect in March 2014. Caldwell completed his rise to the top of the 135-pound weight class, as he captured the bantamweight crown with a five-round unanimous decision over Eduardo Dantas in the Bellator 184 main event on Oct. 6, 2017 at the Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. Scores were 48-47, 48-47 and 50-45. Dantas was never afforded the breathing room he needed. Caldwell bottled up the Brazilian against the cage, running through various clinches that chewed up clock, minimized risk and kept momentum in his corner. He delivered a crowd-pleasing suplex in the first round, dropped Dantas to a knee with a standing elbow strike in the second and drew blood with ground-and-pound in the fourth. It was more than enough to overshadow the Nova Uniao standout’s work.

3. Grip Strength

It was as close to a ho-hum title defense as one could imagine. Caldwell retained the undisputed Bellator MMA bantamweight championship, as he dispatched Leandro Higo with a guillotine choke in the first round of their Bellator 195 headliner on March 2, 2018 at the Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma. Caldwell closed the deal 2:36 into Round 1, strengthening his hold on the 135-pound throne with his first successful title defense. Higo seemed spellbound by the inevitable, perhaps anticipating one of the champion’s patented takedowns. Caldwell executed two of them. As Higo attempted to stand following the second takedown, he left his neck exposed. Caldwell threaded his arms in place for the guillotine, moved to a mounted position on the panicked Brazilian and forced the tapout. In doing so, he made an exceptional fighter look ordinary.

4. Repeat Offender

Horiguchi continued to cement himself as one of the sport’s premier lighter-weight competitors when he captured the Bellator bantamweight crown with a five-round unanimous decision over Caldwell at Bellator 222 on June 14, 2019. Scores at Madison Square Garden in New York were 48-47, 49-46 and 49-46, all for Horiguchi, who moved to 2-0 in his head-to-head series with “The Wolf.” Caldwell was effective early, as he exploited his height and reach advantages in the standup exchanges and kept the Japanese superstar off-balance with well-timed takedowns. However, his gas tank could not withstand the workload. Horiguchi conceded takedowns but neutralized the two-time NCAA All-American wrestler from a seated position in a scene that repeated itself over and over again, scoring with short punches as Caldwell clung to his legs. Caldwell—who had submitted to a guillotine choke from Horiguchi under the Rizin Fighting Federation banner six months earlier—scrambled on top in the fifth round but failed to consolidate his efforts with ground-and-pound or positional advancements, choosing instead to eat a few elbows to the side of the head before nearly wandering into an inverted triangle choke.

5. One Rung Too Many

The unbeaten McKee submitted Caldwell with a modified neck crank in the semifinals of the Bellator featherweight grand prix on Nov. 19, 2020 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The spectacular submission brought a close to their Bellator 253 main event 71 seconds into Round 1. Caldwell struck for a takedown inside the first 30 seconds, only to wander into immediate difficulty. McKee distracted him with elbow strikes to the head and heel strikes to the legs, then snuck his arms into place for the neck crank. By the time Caldwell realized what was happening, it was too late. McKee corralled him with a body triangle, activated his hips and prompted the tapout.