Tonight, live from Hammond, Indiana, Bellator kicks off their sixth season in exciting fashion.Headlining the card is an intriguing featherweight championship bout between kingpin Joe Warren and top contender Pat Curran. Curran was the winner of the su…
Tonight, live from Hammond, Indiana, Bellator kicks off their sixth season in exciting fashion.
Headlining the card is an intriguing featherweight championship bout between kingpin Joe Warren and top contender Pat Curran. Curran was the winner of the summer series featherweight tournament to earn this opportunity, and he’ll look to make the best of it. Warren returns after an unsuccessful stint in pursuit of bantamweight gold.
Rounding off the main card is the quarterfinals of the season six featherweight tournament. Matchups include Marlon Sandro vs. Roberto Vargas; Ronnie Mann vs. Mike Corey; Daniel Straus vs. Jeremy Spoon; and Alexandre Bezerra vs. late replacement Kenny Foster, who replaces Genair da Silva (missed weight yesterday).
Updates will begin live at the beginning of the fights!
SPIKE is really rubbing in how much more they like their new wife’s kids than they do the ones they helped make. It must be hard for the UFC to see them spending so much time with Bellator buying them ice cream and cotton candy, when they don’t even call them on their birthday or pay any child support.
They rubbed salt into the fresh wound this week when they announced their latest family outing: a new Bellator video game developed by their newly-formed SPIKE Games family.
Kung-Fu Games, the group responsible for creating the somewhat underwhelming Supremacy MMA title, are helping with the project. They also worked on on the new Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat and Ugly Americans games released by 345 Games — the Viacom-owned collective made up of Spike Games and Comedy Central Games.
According to the release, the game, dubbed Bellator: Onslaught, should be out this summer.
Check out a sneak peek of the game after the jump.
SPIKE is really rubbing in how much more they like their new wife’s kids than they do the ones they helped make. It must be hard for the UFC to see them spending so much time with Bellator buying them ice cream and cotton candy, when they don’t even call them on their birthday or pay any child support.
They rubbed salt into the fresh wound this week when they announced their latest family outing: a new Bellator video game developed by their newly-formed SPIKE Games family.
Kung-Fu Games, the group responsible for creating the somewhat underwhelming Supremacy MMA title, are helping with the project. They also worked on on the new Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat and Ugly Americans games released by 345 Games — the Viacom-owned collective made up of Spike Games and Comedy Central Games.
According to the release, the game, dubbed Bellator: Onslaught, should be out this summer.
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 in…
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.
With Bellator becoming the No. 2 MMA promotion in America, expectations will continue to rise for the upstart company.Formed in 2008, Bellator has created their own niche in the MMA world by continuing to showcase tournament-style events. By winning a …
With Bellator becoming the No. 2 MMA promotion in America, expectations will continue to rise for the upstart company.
Formed in 2008, Bellator has created their own niche in the MMA world by continuing to showcase tournament-style events. By winning a tournament, a fighter could not only guarantee themselves a title shot, but also a $100,000 payday.
Sure, it sounds like a good deal for a fighter, but the promotion has failed to really take off like MMA fans were predicting.
There are many reasons as to why Bellator‘s “brand” isn’t as great as one would expect from a No. 2 promotion.
Bellator certainly isn’t lacking in stars, as fighters like Hector Lombard, Ben Askren, Michael Chandler and the Freire brothers (Patricio and Patricky) are some of the most exciting fighters in MMA.
With stars like the ones just mentioned, one would think they would be the main focus of Bellator‘s endeavors. But this is where Bellator begins to stray from the right path.
Instead of focusing on “homegrown” talent like Askren and Chandler, Bellator often focuses on bringing in former UFC fighters. The promotion brings in the fighters for their name recognition, but they often fail to add anything to the Bellator brand.
While fans recognize the names of these former UFC fighters, fans are often at a loss when discussing Bellator‘s champions.
A preview show that helps promote the fighters would help make Bellator‘s fighters more popular, and build the promotion’s brand as a whole.
Of course, that would require Bellator to be available to the MMA fan.
Although Bellator events tend to be some of the best in MMA, nobody can watch them as they’ve been on channels like ESPN Deportes, FOX Sports Net and MTV. A move to Spike TV should give the promotion some more exposure.
The final move that would help grow Bellator‘s brand is to remove their “champion’s clause.” The contract clause, known by many MMA fans, basically states that a current champion cannot leave the promotion.
Yes, this would help grow Bellator‘s brand at first by being able to lay claim to dominant champions like Lombard, but it actually hurts the promotion in the long run. There’s no question guys like Lombard and Askren are light years ahead of the competition in Bellator.
While it may be fun to watch them dominate a couple times, eventually it will get old watching the same fighters win each time. It may hurt to watch some champions leave, but it would also open up a lot of divisions.
By creating and building their own stars and taking full advantage of their partnership with Spike TV, Bellator can grow their brand into a respectable No. 2.
If they can’t, they will be just another place for former UFC-vets to pad their record to make it back to the big leagues.
Bellator is the second largest MMA organization in the world today and if it keeps buying up former UFC fighters and placing them in their tournaments, that is all they are ever go to be.UFC is the largest brand available today and when a fighter compe…
Bellator is the second largest MMA organization in the world today and if it keeps buying up former UFC fighters and placing them in their tournaments, that is all they are ever go to be.
UFC is the largest brand available today and when a fighter competes long enough for them, they become a UFC fighter. Even those that don’t last long in the company are branded “former UFC fighter” status. It’s a great marketing tool, helps increase the salary for any fighter who has it and gives them bigger awareness in MMA news.
It is something that every fighter should willingly embrace because, at the end of the day, it helps their career.
There isn’t much of a point in signing a fighter like War Machine or letting Ben Saunders take place in a tournament to fight for the belt except for one reason.
They have name recognition.
For a new promotion like Bellator, they want to have as much built in marketing as they can for their events, but using branded stars won’t help them.
It may be a bit callous to refer to fighters in a way that sounds like Bellator is dealing with cattle, but the logic isn’t unfounded. Fighters who have been built up and tied in with a certain brand will always be stuck with that connection.
People like Tito Ortiz or Randy Couture, even when they weren’t active in the company, were considered UFC fighters.
There was no way to escape the brand and what it had done for their careers or the notoriety it had given them.
If Bellator continues to buy up former UFC fighters, they will get the reputation of having some great fighters. They will also be known for having fighters who couldn’t make it in the UFC and, if those fighters win the championships or even come close, then that is all Bellator will amount to.
A place where those who couldn’t be the best in the world go to still get a healthy paycheck. That is all their championship will amount to as well.
Bellator now has the possibility of rivaling the UFC someday. It wasn’t possible in the past, but now that they have been bought by Viacom, they have the capitol and the backing to do so.
They just need to remember that just like their tournament format, they are a different product then the UFC.
Bellator’s sixth season kicks off this weekend on MTV 2 from Hammond, Indiana. The sixth season features tournaments in the bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight tournaments to decide the next set of challengers to eac…
Bellator’s sixth season kicks off this weekend on MTV 2 from Hammond, Indiana. The sixth season features tournaments in the bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight tournaments to decide the next set of challengers to each respective title.
Bellator LX features a championship bout, the opening round of the featherweight tournament and a number of UFC vets gracing the undercard.
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.