I’ve seen a lot of MMA over the years. A lot. Putting together The MMA Encyclopedia, I watched footage from all over the world, from the despondently bad to the resplendently life-changing.
And I’ve never seen anything quite like the pull-apart brawl between Tito Ortiz and Stephan Bonnar at Bellator 123.
This segment was so bizarre, I didn’t feel confident enough to discuss it alone. So, joining me round-table style, are Bleacher Report’s lead MMA writer Jeremy Botter and MMA editor Brian Oswald.
Snowden: The moment Spike TV cameras caught a glimpse of an overweight masked man sitting next to former UFC star Stephan Bonnar, I suspected something gloriously terrible was going to go down. And boy did it ever.
Bonnar stepped into the cage wearing a Sears special gray suit to challenge Tito Ortiz and revealed his secret weapon to a baffled television audience. Almost no one recognized Justin McCully. And why should they?
An obscure hanger on, he’s likely familiar only to the hardest of hardcores. If the point was to get people talking, Bellator succeeded. If the point was to get them to say nice things, well…
Botter: You say gloriously terrible, Jonathan, but I say just downright glorious. And I’ll tell you why. We already have one mixed martial arts promotion, and we all know Bellator isn’t going to touch the UFC.
Even with Bellator as Strikeforce 3.0, it just won’t get the kind of traction it needs to compete against the brand leader. They can put on fun fights and pretend they’re in the same sport, or they can create some new wrinkles like having old, terrible mixed martial artists show up wearing pro wrestling masks. I know which one I’d prefer.
Is it terrible? Yes. Does it give you that feeling in the pit of your stomach, like you’re watching TNA wrestling? You know the feeling. I know you do. TNA is terrible because they are terrible at pro wrestling. But Bellator being TNA? That’s what I call a fun alternative.
Give me Herschel Walker vs. Bobby Lashley. Give me Alberto Del Rio wearing a mask, making his return to mixed martial arts. Give me something different, and I probably won’t care how terrible it is.
Oswald: So bad it’s good. It’s a tagline that Bellator seems primed to embrace.
Signing a past-his-prime UFC Hall of Famer (who should have never been inducted into the HOF) so he could call out a past-his-prime former UFC champ (who should be in the HOF).
Pitting them in the cage for a face off and shoving match. If all that weren’t enough, there was a man in a mask. Under that mask was another mask. And under that mask was a worn face that only the hardest of hardcore fans recognized.
It was contrived. It was was confusing. It has me wondering just how low will Bellator go. How about putting Tito Ortiz vs. Stephan Bonnar in the main event over a title fight featuring Michael Chandler vs. Will Brooks. That is a pretty good start in a race to the bottom. Count me in.
Snowden: How far can Bellator take this before it becomes “too far”?
Should McCully be named special guest referee? Will he loom ominously over Bonnar’s shoulder during every televised interview?
Make no mistake—this is pro wrestling theater. They’ve taken it to a place no one ever has before. I hope they keep pushing boundaries, if only to see enraged fans on Twitter decrying the death of “pure sport.”
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