Bellator lightweight champion Will Brooks (17-1 MMA, 9-1 BMMA) has been released from the California-based promotion and is now a free agent. Additionally, heavyweight champ Vitaly Minakov (17-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) has been stripped of his title due to inactivity but will remain under contract with the company.

Bellator President Scott Coker today confirmed the moves with MMAjunkie.

In the case of lightweight champ Brooks, who’s ranked No. 11 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings, Coker said the promotion has elected to terminate the fighter’s deal and waive all negotiation rights so that “Ill Will” can pursue his free-agency options.

“It was very simple,” Coker told MMAjunkie. “Will Brooks’ contract is ending, and we made a decision not to renew it. We’re going to give him a full release, so we’re not going to be in the Will Brooks business any longer.”

Coker declined to talk specifics regarding Brooks’ deal, but the 29-year-old American Top Team product previously told MMAFighting.com the contract expired on July 15.

Meanwhile, Coker said the company will immediately strip Minakov, who’s ranked No. 9 at heavyweight, of his title, which hasn’t been defended since April 2014.

“We’re going to retain Minakov’s rights with the company, but we are going to strip him of the title for lack of participation, basically,” Coker said. “We hope we can work it out, but we’re going to be moving on from Minakov.”

Brooks’ departure means the Bellator lightweight title is now vacant. Coker said he plans on making an announcement about the future of the belt on tonight’s Bellator 154 broadcast on Spike. While Coker would not offer further details on the planned contest, he did reveal former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson has agreed to return to 155 pounds for his next fight following a failed bid for the Bellator welterweight belt in his promotional debut.

Brooks debuted for the promotion in 2013 and downed Ricardo Tirloni in the quarterfinals of the company’s Season 8 lightweight tournament before suffering a knockout loss to Saad Awad in the semifinals. That loss remains Brooks’ sole career setback.

He then entered the company’s Season 9 lightweight tournament and scored decision wins over John Alessio, Awad and Alexander Sarnavskiy to win the tourney.

Brooks then scored a May 2014 decision win over Michael Chandler to claim Bellator’s vacant lightweight title. He returned to the cage in November 2014 and downed Chandler a second time to claim Bellator’s undisputed lightweight belt.

In 2015, he registered title defenses over Marcin Held and Dave Jansen but has yet to compete in 2016.

Recently, Brooks has been quick to point out perceived injustices in the promotion and has remained outspoken about his desire to test the free-agent waters. Coker said he felt the two parties would be best served by expediting that process rather than dragging it out.

“Will is a great kid,” Coker said. “At the end of the day, he’s had some good fights for Bellator, but I just don’t think it’s a fit, and he should move on to the next part of his life. I think we’re actually doing him a favor by taking this position. Now he can just move on, and we can move on, as well.

“I just think it would be a waste of time to continue this relationship and try to go through the dance of an option period and a matching period. I just think it wouldn’t have worked out anyway, so we decided today to let it go.”

Meanhwile, Minakov earned his way to a title shot by winning Bellator’s 2013 Summer Series heavyweight tournament. In November 2013, he downed then-champ Alexander Volkov to claim the title, which he defended once with an April 2014 win over Cheick Kongo.

However, after a few contract disputes with Bellator brass, the 31-year-old has gone rogue, winning three fights under Russia’s Eurasia Fight Nights banner.

Coker said the company would welcome the undefeated Russian back to the Bellator cage but isn’t willing to wait around for that to happen.

“There have been a lot of things that we were told he was going to do, and so far none of them has happened yet, so we’re going to be moving forward and start looking for the next heavyweight champ,” Coker said. “We’re going to build a series of fights that will lead to a fight to determine the next heavyweight champion for Bellator. But as far as waiting for Minakov to come back, I think we’ll be happy if he comes back, but if he doesn’t, we’re already moving on with the title.”

For more on Bellator’s upcoming schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.