THIS week we look at the No. 2 mixed ,artial arts (MMA) promotion in the US, Bellator MMA.
Bellator started in 2008 through the hard work of Bjorn Rebney, who was with the promotion from its infancy until last year. Scott Coker took over upon the departure of Rebney.
Bellator owns the reputation as having “The Toughest Tournament in Sports.” Bellator’s format is a one and done single elimination that awards the winner of either an eight fighter or four-fighter tournament. The winner of the tournament gets $100,000 and a title shot against the reigning Bellator world champion in the weight class the fighter competes in.
In the UFC, usually the No. 1 contender gets a title shot and there are interim champions, like UFC interim lightweight champion Irishman Conor McGregor who faces UFC champion Brazilian Jose Aldo on September 12. Bellator doesn’t have interim champions.
As I browsed through Bellator’s roster of fighters, some of the names on the list used to ply their trade in the UFC, like UFC Hall of Famer and former light-heavyweight champion and now Bellator light-heavyweight Tito Ortiz, former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Stephan Bonnar, Josh Thompson and Ken Shamrock.
Viacom became a majority stockholder of Bellator in December 2011. Spike TV started broadcasting all Bellator events, shows and programs in January 2013. In May 2014 Bellator launched its first-ever pay-per-view event. Bellator can be seen in 140 countries like Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and the African continent.
In Latin, the word bellator means “warrior.”
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IN September last year the two MMA promotions went at it on TV. It was a night of coincidences. A night of both promotions putting their respective feet forward by having their best fighters on the card and having their respective events start on prime time.
According to UFC President Dana White from the web site MMA fighting, “If you guys really think we look at Bellator and give a s*** what’s going on or what they’re doing, we don’t,” White said back in June when this “coincidence” of going head-to-head not only on television but nearly a stone’s throw away live, first came to light. “That’s just the date that we landed on. We get the dates from FOX. We don’t pick our own dates. We get the dates. They give us the dates they need us to go on, and it’s determined by other programming they have, or what’s going on that night.”
Events of both promotions starting at the same time featuring their most popular fighters in their respective TV networks a coincidence? This writer begs to differ. The only winners here are the fans and viewers who switch channels back and forth to keep tabs on the great fights.
According to various reports, “It has led to a battle anyway, and the head-to-head date almost certainly led to Bellator bolstering its lineup. It absolutely led to them moving their starting time up one hour from usual, going on the air on Spike at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
“The UFC also has a stronger lineup than most Fight Nights, headlined by a Gegard Mousasi (35-4-2) versus Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza (20-3, 1 no contest) battle of top middleweight contenders.
“The winner could conceivably get the next shot at the UFC middleweight title after the December 6 fight with champion Chris Weidman versus Vitor Belfort. The fight is a rematch of a tournament final for the Dream middleweight title back on September 23, 2008, at the Saitama Super Arena outside of Tokyo, Japan, when Mousasi knocked out a then-inexperienced Souza in 2:15 with an up kick.
“The UFC will be featuring five straight hours of live fights, 10 fights in all, on FS 1, from 7 p.m. until approximately midnight, or perhaps a little longer.
“Bellator will be airing five fights on Spike, starting at 8 p.m., and climaxing with Pat Curran (20-5) defending his Bellator featherweight title against Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire (21-2). This is also a rematch, of a split-decision win by Curran to retain the am title on January 17, 2013, in Irvine, California Freire’s two career losses were both Bellator title matches, one with Curran and another with Joe Warren, both of which were very close fights.”
Expect this not to be the last “coincidence” between these two promotions as they continue to “fight” over the hearts and minds of MMA fans.