Bellator Fighting Championships has decided that going head-to-head with the UFC is a losing battle.
The No. 2 MMA promotion in America announced that starting with its sixth season in the spring, Bellator’s live fights will air on MTV2 on Friday nights. The first Bellator show of Season 6 will take place on March 2, and having the event on a Friday ensures that it won’t take place simultaneously with a UFC pay-per-view, as Bellator often did this year.
However, the decision to move to Fridays may still mean going head-to-head with the UFC, as The Ultimate Fighter will move to a live format with fights on Friday nights on FX next year, and the UFC may also run some Fight Night-level shows on FX or Fuel TV on Friday nights. It’s not clear yet whether Bellator and The Ultimate Fighter will air at the same time, but Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said his promotion views its events as distinct from reality television like The Ultimate Fighter.
“Our focus was to find the right night, where the largest number of MMA fans could enjoy the show,” Rebney said in a statement. “We’ve been discussing this move with our partners at Viacom for months. When we looked at the alternatives, we agreed that Fridays provided a great night for us to reach MMA fans with our live, real sport, tournament events every week.”
Bellator’s Season 6 will feature tournaments in the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions, and one more tournament that the promotion has yet to determine. The season is also expected to feature title fights at bantamweight (Eduardo Dantas vs. Zach Makovsky), featherweight (Pat Curran vs. Joe Warren), welterweight (Douglas Lima vs. Ben Askren) and middleweight (Alexander Shlemenko vs. Hector Lombard).
Other fights planned for Bellator Season 6 include Shinya Aoki vs. Eddie Alvarez and a rematch of the Season 5 heavyweight tournament final, Eric Prindle vs. Thiago Santos, which was ruled a no contest.
Bellator should have a busy spring with plenty of big fights, but the big question is whether the promotion can differentiate itself from the UFC enough to make MMA fans notice. Moving to Fridays is an attempt to do that.
After seven successful years televising the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Spike TV will continue as a mixed martial arts staple, as it will begin broadcasting fights with the tournament-format promotion, Bellator Fighting Championship. Thoug…
After seven successful years televising the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Spike TV will continue as a mixed martial arts staple, as it will begin broadcasting fights with the tournament-format promotion, Bellator Fighting Championship.
Though Bjorn Rebney’s MMA company won’t air events until 2013, Spike TV has already started featuring fights on their Web site.
As Zuffa, LLC, UFC’s parent company, recently announced in August their plans to move to Fox Sports Media starting next year, Spike’s parent company, Viacom, comprehending the success of MMA programming, quickly purchased a majority stake in Bellator.
Though Spike has the rights to air UFC’s extensive back catalog of fights through 2012, the television company felt displaying such shows is insufficient.
In an interview on SportsIllustrated.com by Loretta Hunt, Spike TV’s president, Kevin Kay, is extremely excited about airing live, tournament-style, MMA events:
“We really liked Bellator. We liked (Bellator CEO) Bjorn (Rebney) and loved the talent development people, (matchmaker) Sam Caplan particularly and we loved the tournament format,” declares Kay.
“One of the things we’ve seen with the UFC over time is that the library tends to wear down (in terms of ratings). What continues to work are live fights. The tournaments give us live fights every week.”
Throughout the seven-year partnership, one of the most successful shows was The Ultimate Fighter, a reality program that housed up-and-coming fighters, with an opportunity to earn a lucrative contract with the world’s top mixed martial arts promotion.
Though Spike’s and Bellator’s pairing is in its infancy, a new, reality-based MMA show is in the works, unlike The Ultimate Fighter.
“One thing we won’t do is duplicate The Ultimate Fighter. It’s a great franchise and it’s going to go on to another network,” states Kevin. “There’s different kinds of reality ideas that we’re starting to kick around. We’re hearing lots of good ideas for reality programming around Bellator. But it won’t be 16 guys in a house. We’re not doing that show over again.”
With over a year to prepare and create new MMA TV shows and events, Spike TV’s president is looking forward in building Bellator’s fighters into stars and increasing their popularity.
“I think we’re really good at marketing and promoting,” proclaims Kay. “That’s the value we brought to the UFC and the value we’ll bring to Bellator.”
Though one may consider the break-up of Spike and UFC to be bittersweet, the TV head feels the time spent was an invaluable experience.
“I sat on the sidelines watching the guys that do it best in the world—(UFC owners) Dana, Lorenzo and Frank (Fertitta)—and soak up every experience,” discusses Kevin. “We paid a lot, but I learned a lot and hopefully we can bring all of that learning from myself and my team, and bring it to the party for Bellator.”
Bellator’s event highlights and previews are viewable at Spike.com.
Roland Riso is a contributing writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained from SI.com (link). Check out more of his work at MMAIdiot.com.
Sixty-four months removed from her first professional fight and defeat at the hands of Lisa Ward-Ellis, Jessica Aguilar is primed to avenge that loss. With 15 fights and 11 victories to her credit, Aguilar’s a far different fighter than the lady …
Sixty-four months removed from her first professional fight and defeat at the hands of Lisa Ward-Ellis, Jessica Aguilar is primed to avenge that loss.
With 15 fights and 11 victories to her credit, Aguilar’s a far different fighter than the lady Ward-Ellis faced in 2006.
“There’s a huge difference between the fighter before in me and the fighter now,” Aguilar recently told BleacherReport.com. “I respect Lisa, she’s a top athlete and she has a lot of skills. Now, I have five and a half years under my belt and I have a lot of experience now too, so it’s going to be a way different fight (on) Saturday November, 19 and I’m excited about this fight. (I’m) looking forward to Saturday.”
For Aguilar, the opportunity to avenge her first career loss comes in arguably no larger stage for female fighters.
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney allowed the fans to cast votes in order to decide the fourth and final main card bout which airs on MTV 2. Aguilar is thankful for each vote cast.
“Well, first of all I’d like to thank all of the fans for all of the support I got on Twitter in voting for my fight to be televised Saturday the 19th. That’s why I got the TV spot, so I want to shout out and say thank you to everyone who was a part of that.
“I’m so excited, so excited to showcase my skills in the cage on MTV 2, so all my friends, family, and fans can see that we women train and fight as well as the men. For them to ask for more fights and hopefully this will help bring more female fights to the main card.”
A perfect record in 2011 and seven victories in her past eight fights is what Aguilar’s shooting for on Saturday night, and she’s prepared for the task at hand.
“It’s very exciting, I’m honored and grateful for the opportunity to be back in the cage and to work. I’m excited for this fight and this is actually the most important fight of my career. So, I’m focused and ready for Saturday and I’m just excited to also be showcasing my skills and avenge my loss on live TV.”
If she’s successful in defeating Ward-Ellis, she’ll be in line for the number one ranking in the division and a shot at Megumi Fujii.
“Lisa’s number three and I’m number two and my goal is to be number one. Megumi’s number one, so right now my focus is on Lisa and after my victory I’m focused on being in the number one spot and that’s Megumi.”
For additional information, follow Joshua Carey onTwitter.
Filed under: BellatorWhen Viacom purchased Bellator Fighting Championships, it was a strong sign that the promotion has a good chance to survive as America’s No. 2 mixed martial arts promotion. Now Bellator is looking at expanding globally as well.
When Viacom purchased Bellator Fighting Championships, it was a strong sign that the promotion has a good chance to survive as America’s No. 2 mixed martial arts promotion. Now Bellator is looking at expanding globally as well.
“I’m really trying to expand this brand into international markets,” Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney told MMAFighting.com. “I’ve always believed since I started watching MMA that this sport was a very easy sport to grasp and understand — the most basic level of sports competition — one man vs. another man in a world class competition. So my vision has been building up enough presence domestically so we can start to expand internationally.”
Toward that end, Bellator is announcing on Monday a deal with FremantleMedia Enterprises to represent its international TV distribution rights. FremantleMedia has operations in 22 countries and is involved in distributing nearly 10,000 hours of TV programming around the world every year.
“What this really means is we’ve got the foremost partner in the space out there helping us build this brand from an international perspective,” Rebney said. “Domestically I’ve been clear that we’ve got the greatest domestic partner you could have from a television perspective. But now internationally we’ve got them looking to disseminate Bellator content into every single country.”
Rebney said he thinks getting on TV channels around the world will help Bellator attract fans from outside North America, as well as compete for the best international MMA talent. He also said he can see Bellator doing international events in Brazil or Europe, although he said the logistics would be difficult to do an overseas show as one of Bellator’s weekly seasonal events.
“We’ll be able to really expand the power and breadth of the marketing machine,” Rebney said. “We’re three years old and have never done those things, but now that we have a partner like Fremantle we can start that development process. You’ll see more Bellator licensed products, both domestically and internationally. You’ll see more home entertainment, video on demand options in Bellator.”
As you’d expect from a promoter, Rebney is bullish on what can be expected from Bellator going forward.
“The working relationship with Viacom is spectacular,” Rebney said. “This is another very powerful, very large, very well-connected corporate entity that’s very invested in the Bellator brand in mixed martial arts.”
MMAFighting.com also caught up with Rebney for some other questions and answers regarding issues facing Bellator.
Michael David Smith: Ben Askren beat Jay Hieron in a very close split decision to retain the Bellator welterweight title. Would you consider booking an immediate rematch between the two of them? Bjorn Rebney: I thought it was a great fight. The reason I went out and signed Jay Hieron was because I thought he was a world-class fighter who had never been given his shot. The key selling point I had with Jay was that if you come here you’ll have a clear path to the title. He got it, he bought into it, Ben faced the best fighter he has faced thus far in his career. I thought Ben won the fight. I think the world of Jay Hieron and it would be my pleasure to have him back in another tournament and give him another shot at fighting either Ben Askren or the Ben Saunders-Douglas Lima winner, whoever of them might beat Ben Askren. But I don’t give anyone a title shot. Guys earn a title shot in Bellator. So I’m not going to deviate from what’s made Bellator unique, and that is that you earn it. Jay got super close, and it was a great fight, but the judges decided Ben won the fight, and if Jay wants another shot he’ll come back and earn it.
Are you worried that the tournament format makes your champions too inactive? For instance, Eddie Alvarez likes to stay active, but he’s only fought once this year and twice last year. No, but I’m taking steps right now to increase the frequency of our world title defenses. If you look at other champions you see they typically will defend their titles twice in a year and we’re in a position where champions defend their titles twice in a year, but I would like to increase that frequency. So I’m working with our partners at Spike on an adjustment to the format that will allow us to put more tournaments in each season — not to change the tournaments, but to increase the number of tournaments so we can more regularly provide challengers who have earned the right to fight our champions. Of all the things we’ve done format wise, the only thing that wasn’t as good as I wanted was the superfights. It wasn’t an optimal situation in terms of how it should work in a perfect world, which is the guys should be defending their titles every time they step in the cage. That’s what we’re working on now.
Is Michael Chandler a good enough challenge for Alvarez? And what do you see in Alvarez’s future? I think Mike Chandler is a freak. He’s an absolute monster. His maturation in the game, and his progression as a mixed martial artist, is more prolific than anyone I’ve seen over the last three years. He’s a champion wrestler, who showed in his standup with Patricky Pitbull that he’s a beast. He trains at an amazing camp with Randy Couture in Vegas and he’s an absolute beast. I think Eddie is the best 155-pounder on earth but I think Chandler will be one of the toughest opponents of his career. People will be shocked at how competitive that fight will be.
Is Eddie Alvarez going to fight Shinya Aoki next? It’s signed to happen. The issue becomes what happens in Ed’s fight with Mike. Contingent upon the outcome of that fight, it’s scheduled to happen in the first quarter of 2012. The folks we’re working with it at Dream say they’re ready to move forward for it but we have to see how Ed does in his fight with Mike, although Ed losing his title to Mike wouldn’t preclude him from fighting Aoki.
Lorenzo Fertitta recently predicted that you guys would end up on pay-per-view. Do you think that will happen? I didn’t see that. There’s a potential that we could end up on pay-per-view but our model right now is great because we don’t have to get to pay-per-view for our business model to work. Pay-per-view is a difficult model to get to, but hard-core fans of MMA know when pay-per-view is warranted. I don’t believe we’re there yet but I believe there’s the potential for us to get there. The transition to Spike is an amazing step — they’re the name in MMA on TV. I don’t know when pay-per-view will occur, but it could occur in the future.
When will Season 6 start? First quarter of 2012. We don’t have a date yet, we’ll take some time off after our last fight of this season on November 26 and then get ready to roll.
Which weight classes will you do in Season 6? We’ll definitely have 155, 145 for sure, probably 205 as well because our team has got some amazing signings at light heavyweight, and then we’ll figure it out after that. The question is whether we’ll do four, five or six tournaments next season.
What do you see as the future of women’s MMA in Bellator? It definitely has a future. It’s definitely something we talk about, strategize on and plan for. We’ve got Jessica Aguilar fighting Lisa Ward coming up. I don’t know if Season 6 will see a women’s tournament but we’ll definitely put women’s fights together. Depth is an issue with eight-woman tournaments — the depth across a weight class isn’t one of women’s MMA’s strengths.
The landscape of the MMA world changed this week as the Bellator promotion was purchased by its broadcast partner, Viacom. As part of the deal, the promotion will leave MTV2 for Spike TV in 2013.Recent UFC featherweight title challenger Kenny Flo…
The landscape of the MMA world changed this week as the Bellator promotion was purchased by its broadcast partner, Viacom. As part of the deal, the promotion will leave MTV2 for Spike TV in 2013.
Recent UFC featherweight title challenger Kenny Florian has announced that he will not retire despite his third failed attempt at UFC gold. The catch? He’ll be returning to the lightweight division.
Also of note, MMA Live host Jon Anik will be leaving ESPN to join the UFC as a member of its broadcast team.
Rob Tatum is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. You can also find Rob’s work at TheMMACorner.com. For anything related to MMA, you can follow Rob on Twitter @RobTatumMMA.
After seven successful years televising the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Spike TV will continue as a mixed martial arts staple, as it will begin broadcasting fights with the tournament-format promotion, Bellator Fighting Championship.
When Viacom purchased