The Official Bellator Thread

[aholbert32]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

As a person that watches bellator regularly, I have to say that calling the entire company a joke is a bit absurd. As a matter of fact, based on quality fights alone, there are free bellator tv cards that surpass some ufc ppvs.

Reading some of the comments in this thread, I'm pretty much sure half the people commenting don't even watch bellator regularly, and just finished grazing on dana white's front lawn.

I watch every Bellator card on Spike and I cant think of one week that surpassed a UFC PPV unless you are talking about the Faber/Barao 1 card or some older UFC PPVs. The only one that even comes close is the first Bellator card that had Curran and Chandler on it. **** even the card that had Eddie/Chandler 2 had **** fights like Mo/Newton 2 on it. And this is coming from a guy who thinks Eddie/Chandler 1 was one of the top 3 fights I've ever seen.

[aholbert32]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

Every fight promotion has it's share of politics. I'm particularly talking about the quality of fights. Which in many cases is pretty good and even on par with some ufc events (if not more exciting). Don't get me wrong, the ufc has the best collection of fighters on the planet, but for some reason they fail to deliver quality events on a regular basis.

I cant even recall a fight card Bellator had this season where I walked away thinking "That was an incredible card." There were a few good main events like Curran/Strauss 3 but no great top to bottom cards.

The problem is they lack depth. They have a ton of lower card people who most fans (even hardcore ones) dont know and that leads to a lack of interest in their tournaments. They solely focus on pushing guys like Rampage, Tito, Mo and Kongo because they have name recognition instead of focusing on the talent they have.

I dont give a **** about Mike Richman. Why? Because Bellator hasnt given me a reason to care or get excited about his fights.

I dont give a **** about Daniel Strauss. Why? Because instead of building him up as a new champion, Bjorn did everything in his power to get the belt off of him and back on to one of the few Bellator grown fighters they have pushed (Curran)

Dont even get me started on Bellator's HW and LHW divisions.

Shoot, I look forward to WSOF events more than I do Bellator cards. I think part of the reason is WSOF knows what it is. A second tier farm system where young fighters can work their way up to fight in the UFC and where former UFC fighters can put on good fights and still collect decent paydays.

Bjorn is so focused on trying to be competition like Pride and Strikeforce were but he doesnt have the talent to be true comp. He has 6-10 fighters that could be top 10 UFC fighters (Eddie, Chandler, Curran, Page, Dantas, Shlemenko, the Pitbull Brothers and maybe Strauss, Brooks and Lima). That not enough to be true competition. Especially when you are only interested in promoting 2 of those guys.

[p_rushing]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

Yep there are plenty of regulars in the MMA forum that watch Bellator and most any MMA on TV. I have a recording on DTV setup to record all MMA live things that come on. I even watch all the AXS fight night stuff, it may not be right away and may fast forward some times though. You can see from the number of post in this thread that it is a joke of an organization.

As everyone has said, Bjorn is an idiot for trying to go up against the UFC. There is a reason all his cards are on TV and not PPV. He thought he had something going with the Spike deal, but until you actually build up your base of fighters, you can't compete. Bjorn could have sealed his spot if he worked with the UFC. He could have created a path to the UFC for his fighters. Once he started putting fighters in the UFC, all the up and coming fighters would want to fight in Bellator.

Now that Bellator has kept fighters from going to the UFC through their crazy contracts, the talent base is falling off. I don't see them signing any good young fighters, unless you count Russian fighters who usually are with M1 or similar and have issues with the UFC/Dana. The other lesser organizations are signing and keeping those fighters until the get the call from the UFC.

If you were a young fighter who had the talent to make it to the UFC, any manager or coach would be an idiot for telling you to sign with Bellator. If you are good enough to get to the UFC, you will win the tournament and then face a decision. Either fight to win the championship and be forced to stay with Bellator until they don't want you any more or lose so you aren't locked into a contract.

[redsrule]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

Melvin Manhoef is as fun to watch as anyone in MMA imo. Win or lose, you know there is going to be a brutal knockout coming.

[Pappy Knuckles]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

Melvin Manhoef is as fun to watch as anyone in MMA imo. Win or lose, you know there is going to be a brutal knockout coming.

It damn near looked like Marshall took a dive. I wouldn't blame him if that was the case. Love watching Manhoef.

[Pappy Knuckles]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread



This British Invasion card should be a decent little show. I hate that Michael Page got hurt, though. Liam McGeary has looked very good up to this point, but Newton always seems to find a way to pull out a W somehow. Looking forward to that. And I'm always down to see Paul Daley in action.

[ERA]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

I love watching Paul Daley fight. Diaz vs. Daley was one of the best fights I've seen. Dana should let him back in the UFC.

[Pappy Knuckles]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

Phil Davis has signed with Bellator. Wow.

[aholbert32]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

Phil Davis has signed with Bellator. Wow.

Ufc had matching rights but decided to decline. I think it's a good decision for both. Davis isn't a draw in the ufc and pretty much couldn't get over the hump. With that said, Bellator probably paid him a ton and there are some good potential fights there. I'd love to see him against Mo, Rampage, Newton or McGeary.

The only negative for the Ufc is that LHW is kind of shallow right now and even though Davis isn't an exciting fighter losing him makes it even more shallow.

[p_rushing]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

It's not really a win or loss for either. He may start finishing lesser opponents again, but we have all seen that he can't get over the hump in the UFC to make it to the top. He wasn't exciting enough for the UFC to keep him around at the higher price.

It does make the Rampage lawsuit more interesting. They just showed they are willing to pay more than the UFC.

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[Pappy Knuckles]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

Only a few weeks away from the fight of the century.

[p_rushing]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

1 minute rounds with 5 minute rest breaks?

[Pappy Knuckles]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

[LingeringRegime]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

Welp, I can't wait for the Friday Night Freak Show!

[TheShizNo1]

Re: The Official Bellator Thread

Shamrock has to win this via sub in the first 3 minutes, right? Unless Kimbo catches him or throws the fight (not that this definitely can't happen) I don't see how that's not the ending.

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