A professional mixed martial artist since 2007, he has competed for the UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce, and King of the Cage.
[10] Beltran also began wrestling in middle school[11] and was talented, but was initially not allowed to compete outside of practice because of poor grades and was eventually kicked out from the junior high.
[10] Beltran originally attended Palomar College, and after two years he academically transferred to the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
[12] During the first semester, Beltran was introduced to mixed martial arts at a local gym, Bulls Pen.
[11][12] After the semester, Beltran moved back to California, attending MiraCosta College for a spell before dropping out in pursuit of a career in mixed martial arts.
[1] Beltran made his professional debut on February 10, 2007, at Strikeforce: Young Guns and lost via unanimous decision.
[15] In his next appearance, under the King of the Cage banner, Beltran defeated Wes Combs via TKO only 25 seconds into the fight.
[24] Beltran then fought highly regarded kickboxer Pat Barry at UFC Fight for the Troops 2 on January 22, 2011, in Fort Hood, Texas.
[26] During the fight, Beltran received a high volume of leg kicks from Barry, a former K-1 kickboxing competitor, yet only collapsed at the end of the final round.
[27] However, after Herman was shuffled to the main card, Beltran instead faced another UFC newcomer in Aaron Rosa.
[30] Beltran faced former Strikeforce heavyweight Lavar Johnson on January 28, 2012, at UFC on Fox: Evans vs. Davis,[31] where he was knocked out for the first time in his career in the first round.
He officially made his Light heavyweight debut on April 28, 2012, at C3 Fights in Oklahoma, where he defeated Anton Talamantes via unanimous decision.
He faced former UFC Light heavyweight Champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson on November 15, 2013, in the main event at Bellator 108.
[49] On September 21, 2016, it was announced that Beltran would be facing Alessio Sakara in the co-main event of Bellator 168 on December 10, 2016.
[12][4] Having already essentially retired after his latest fight, Beltran was lured to face Sergei Kharitonov at Russian Cagefighting Championship 1 on February 25, 2018.
[4] In his debut Beltran faced Tony Lopez - who he had twice previously lost to in MMA - at the inaugural Bare Knuckle FC event held on June 2, 2018.
[58] The outcome of this bout also resulted in Beltran retaining the Police Gazette Heavyweight World Championship, a title that had not been in the ring since 1899.