Ignacio Ortiz

The event featured in the main event a Bellator Welterweight Championship bout between the champion Rory MacDonald and Jon Fitch. The bout served as both a title defense for MacDonald and a quarter-final match in the Bellator Welterweight World Grand Prix. The event featured a Bellator Women's Flyweight Championship bout between the champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and Veta Arteaga.

Bellator 226: Bader vs. Kongo was a mixed martial arts event that took place on September 8th, 2019 at SAP Center in San Jose, California. The event took place on Paramount Network and DAZN.

The event saw Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald move up to the middleweight division to challenge Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi for the Bellator middleweight title. MacDonald was attempting to become the second multi-division champion in Bellator history, after former Bellator bantamweight and featherweight champion Joe Warren. In addition, former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson met rival and former PRIDE FC middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva for the fourth time in their respective careers. Going into this fight, Silva held a 2-1 advantage in the series.