Bellator Fighting Championships pride themselves on their quote, “Where title shots are earned.” I love this concept, as sometimes I believe undeserving fighters get title shots in front of guys who deserve it more.
But the problem that Bellator runs into with their tournament system to find a No. 1 contender is that the champion often does not fight nearly as much as he should. To keep the champions active, Bellator has “non-title superfights,” which I believe is a bad thing for several reasons.
First, let’s examine this season’s non-title superfights that have already been scheduled. Luckily, champions Zach Makovsky, Joe Warren and Ben Askren all have title matches this season thus far, which is against men who earned title shots.
Heavyweight champion Cole Konrad is still on the shelf, though, because of a “no contest” in the heavyweight tournament final last season, which will be settled not far from now. There is a chance he will defend his title this season.
The problem, though, is that lightweight champion Michael Chandler is set to have his first fight since winning the title in a non-title bout with Akihiro Gono, which troubles me. Chandler, although there is now lightweight tournament champion lined up for him to fight, should be defending his title, like all champions.
Last season, Zach Makovsky, Christian M’Pumbu and Hector Lombard all participated in non-title bouts. Although Makovsky and Lombard came out victorious, M’Pumbu was defeated, but he was still a champion.
This takes away prestige from the titles. Having non-title fights with champions is a bad thing. I know Bellator wants to have their fighters earn title shots, but in the meanwhile, they should present legitimate challengers to the belts in actual championship matches. If they have to do this by having non-tournament No. 1 contenders matches, then they need to do it.
If they want their champions to be legitimate, they need to keep them active and put their titles on the line in the process. Bellator is a great fighting company that puts on awesome fights, but their lack of activity and title fights hurts them.
I am sure not all of the fights are announced for this season yet, so we will see if more superfights or title fights happen. But seeing as there was no light heavyweight tournament or lightweight tournament last season, there will probably not be a title fight in those weight divisions. Although featherweight did not have a tournament in season five, they were lucky enough to have a log jam with injuries and the summer series tournament that has presented a title fight on the first card of the season.
There is my solution. Have fighters with a reputable name and a good record square off in a top contenders match to see who fights the champion. It is only a good thing that the champion gets championship fighting experience and faces tough competition.
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