Bellator General Discussion and Info

[Jasen777]

I knew Hawn would be outmatched, but that was bad. Interesting to see a corner do the right thing.

[Bernman]

I knew Hawn would be outmatched, but that was bad. Interesting to see a corner do the right thing.

I figured it would be a demolition. Hawn is good at this weight, but not among the best. He's probably like top 20-25 in the world. Whereas Lima is top 10, or even 5 on ability. His blend of power, diversity, technical ability, athleticism, and calm; make him among the scariest in the sport. All most opponents want to do is hold them or evade, and run out the clock.

Part of me is happy now we surely won't see him lay and prayed by Askren. But part of me is disappointed we won't see that rematch, because he was only 24 in the first fight, and too aggressive from all positions. I could see him making the necessary adjustments.

Held's performance I also think is worth mentioning. He got an early takedown, but was struggling getting Anderson down when they were more telegraphed and he was tired, so he needed to get creative to get the fight to the ground, and he did that successfully. I don't recall anyone else who does those rolling guard pulls. Then he transitioned from it right to the triangle which ultimately resulted in the finish. And he's improved his striking a lot. He had Anderson hurt in that department. He's very awkward but crafty, ala Jardine. Looking forward to seeing that finale against Patricky. Hopefully Held wins. A rematch with Chandler would be interesting. Naturally, he's not the same guy as when he was 19.

[Cammo101]

Good night of fights. They were all exciting. Held and Lima looked awesome.

Not sure what Bellator is doing by putting 2 prelim level fights on their main card, and then putting 3 PPV level fights on their prelims on Spike. Bern, you are the resident Bellator guy, this make any sense to you?

[skflives]

Good night of fights. They were all exciting. Held and Lima looked awesome.

Not sure what Bellator is doing by putting 2 prelim level fights on their main card, and then putting 3 PPV level fights on their prelims on Spike. Bern, you are the resident Bellator guy, this make any sense to you?

http://mmajunkie.com/2014/04/bellator-120-pay-per-view-adds-ivanov-volkov-held-freire-three-more-bouts/


Yea it makes no sense. When I saw the title of the article I was like finally, Bellaire does something that makes sense. Then I read the article and I just shook my head. I think putting one of those fights on the televised prelims to serve as a lead in to the ppv but all 3? Really?

[Bernman]

All I can figure out is they're using two slots to build ppv stars for the future in lieu of grat alternatives. But don't agree with it. You need to draw maximum eyes first.

Hopefully though Lima's surprising quick finish provides them another great alternative. I'd love to see him vs. a name at a bigger class ala Shlemenko with Tito. Mayhem, for example, would make sense.

BTW, they put Curran-Pitbull on a card only a few weeks later. That may have been a great alternative for them. Although who knows what that few weeks does recovery wise for Curran.

Regardless, they did have a plethora of better alternatives than they used, a few of them located on the prelims of the same card.

[skflives]

I just don't get it.

Alvarez vs Chandler 3
Rampage vs. King Mo
Tito Ortiz vs. Alexander Schlemenko
Blagoi Ivanov vs. Alexander Volkov
Patricky Fiere vs. Marcin Held

Prelims:
Cheick Kongo vs. Eric Smith
Will Brooks vs. Nate Jolly
Michael Page vs. Ricky Rainy
Mike Richman vs. Goiti Yamauchi

The card above makes a whole lot more sense than what the card currently looks like:

Champ Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler – for lightweight title
Quinton Jackson vs. Muhammed Lawal – light-heavyweight tournament final
Tito Ortiz vs. Alexander Shlemenko – non-title fight
Will Brooks vs. Nate Jolly
Michael Page vs. Ricky Rainy

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

Cheick Kongo vs. Eric Smith
Blagoi Ivanov vs. Alexander Volkov – heavyweight tournament final
Marcin Held vs. Patricky Freire – lightweight tournament final
Mike Richman vs. Goiti Yamauchi

Hell you can even put the lightweight tourney final to headline the Prelims portion of the card to strengthen the prelims as a leadin if you're so inclined. It would still make the PPV a stronger card than it is. Personally, as things stand right now the prelims are shaping up to be a fairly good card in and of itself with 2 fights (as of now) that are more significant than all but two of the PPV fights. Why bother ordering the PPV?

[Jasen777]

I thought they already said this?

http://mmapayout.com/2014/06/bellator-m ... es-change/

Via Bellator press release:

“Just like we’ve done since day one, any fighter who wins The Toughest Tournament in Sports will still be guaranteed a World Title fight,” [Bjorn] Rebney said. “The addition I’m making here, that I’m really excited about, is if you’ve won a tournament, you’ll join an elite group of athletes who we can grant a world title fight to at any time.”

“For example, if you win a tournament, fight for the World Title and lose, you forever remain in that elite group of fighters who can be awarded another shot at the title. We will place some fighters back into tournaments, while others may lose a world title fight, win some non-tournament fights and be awarded another shot at the title. We won’t be implementing any hard and fast rule as to when a fighter will go back into a tournament and when he’ll fight non-tournament fights and potentially be granted another title shot. What’s great about this addition is that it allows us to stay true to our core format, where title shots can only be earned through a tournament win, while also providing us tremendous flexibility to make the great fights fans want to see. And, we can do all this while keeping our fighters busy and battling in meaningful fights on a re-occurring basis. This is another step in our constant evolution and most importantly it’s a win for the fighters and the fans.”

The current pool of fighters eligible to be chosen to fight for the world title includes:

Bantamweight: Eduardo Dantas*, Joe Warren*, Marcos Galvao, Rafael Silva
Featherweight: Pat Curran*, Patricio Pitbull, Daniel Straus, Shahbulat Shamhalaev, “Frodo” Khasbulaev, Daniel Weichel, Joe Warren.

Lightweight: Eddie Alvarez*, Will Brooks*, Michael Chandler, Pat Curran, Rick Hawn, Dave Jansen, David Rickels

Welterweight: Douglas Lima*, Karl Amoussou, Andrey Koreshkov, Rick Hawn

Middleweight: Alexander Shlemenko*, Brennan Ward, Doug Marshall

Light Heavyweight: Emanuel Newton*, Rampage Jackson, King Mo, Christian M’Pumbu, Atilla Vegh,

Heavyweight: Vitaly Minakov*, Alexander Volkov, Cheick Kongo

[Shaazzam]

Holy **** Rebney is out of Bellator. Speculation is that Coker might take over his role.

wow wow wow

[REDDzone]

Holy **** Rebney is out of Bellator. Speculation is that Coker might take over his role.

wow wow wow

For the life of me I can't remember where I heard it (beatdown after the bell for bellator's ppv?), but this has been rumored for awhile now. Pretty sure that Viacom and Rebney have always clashed and Coker's name has been thrown around as the replacement for awhile too.

[Cammo101]

Holy **** Rebney is out of Bellator. Speculation is that Coker might take over his role.

wow wow wow

For the life of me I can't remember where I heard it (beatdown after the bell for bellator's ppv?), but this has been rumored for awhile now. Pretty sure that Viacom and Rebney have always clashed and Coker's name has been thrown around as the replacement for awhile too.

Yeah, this rumor had been swirling for a while. This is why you have to be careful when you sell a portion or all of your company to a larger conglomerate.

Coker is a bad choice IMO. He overpaid fighters and ran pretty much a regional company that made a lot of amateur hour mistakes. If I were them I'd try to pluck one of the WEC founders currently with the UFC.

[REDDzone]

Yeah, this rumor had been swirling for a while. This is why you have to be careful when you sell a portion or all of your company to a larger conglomerate.

Coker is a bad choice IMO. He overpaid fighters and ran pretty much a regional company that made a lot of amateur hour mistakes. If I were them I'd try to pluck one of the WEC founders currently with the UFC.

Strikeforce was a regional company? wut

Also, I think its hard to argue that he overpaid for fighters, really, just because overpaying is relative to what you can afford. He made a successful company and brought them to CBS and Showtime, turned a profit, and eventually became successful enough to have the ufc purchase them (and their fighters are kicking ass in the ufc btw).

[Cammo101]

Yeah, this rumor had been swirling for a while. This is why you have to be careful when you sell a portion or all of your company to a larger conglomerate.

Coker is a bad choice IMO. He overpaid fighters and ran pretty much a regional company that made a lot of amateur hour mistakes. If I were them I'd try to pluck one of the WEC founders currently with the UFC.

Strikeforce was a regional company? wut

Also, I think its hard to argue that he overpaid for fighters, really, just because overpaying is relative to what you can afford. He made a successful company and brought them to CBS and Showtime, turned a profit, and eventually became successful enough to have the ufc purchase them (and their fighters are kicking ass in the ufc btw).

Almost all of all Strikeforce's cards were in Northern California. That is about as regional as it gets. He did some stuff well for sure, but that is mostly the stuff Bellator has also already done well. Coker wouldn't be awful or anything, but I think what he does best is not really needed. They need someone who can take them to the next level, and I don't see Coker as that guy.

[REDDzone]

I'm not saying Coker is ideal either, for the record. I actually used to refer to him as "Michael" Scott Coker.

But if you meant strikeforce is regional in regards to actual geographic location, then sure, but I'm not sure why that is a negative towards Coker or the promotion.

[REDDzone]

Its done now so it doesn't matter. Coker in as per sherdog.

[Cammo101]

Its done now so it doesn't matter. Coker in as per sherdog.

That happened fast.

[CPT]

I don't think this is gonna end well.

[Nemesis21]

Reed Harris formerly of WEC would be better than Coker. Don't know if he would leave the UFC though.

[Jasen777]

Have to wonder if Viacom will put more effort into promoting Glory instead. Would make sense really, promoting a slightly different sport rather than a 2nd level version of what Fox has. Also an interesting point for the MMA Power 40.

[REDDzone]

Have to wonder if Viacom will put more effort into promoting Glory instead. Would make sense really, promoting a slightly different sport rather than a 2nd level version of what Fox has. Also an interesting point for the MMA Power 40.

True, plus this way they will get a head start and have first rate kickboxing by the time Dana completes the ufc's transformation to second rate kickboxing.

[skflives]

Almost all of all Strikeforce's cards were in Northern California. That is about as regional as it gets. He did some stuff well for sure, but that is mostly the stuff Bellator has also already done well. Coker wouldn't be awful or anything, but I think what he does best is not really needed. They need someone who can take them to the next level, and I don't see Coker as that guy.

I see your point but at the same time Coker is a much more likeable guy. Although Rebney ran a successful promotion he rubbed a lot of fighters the wrong way with his blatent favoritism and the way he seemed to changed the rules willy nilly. I'm not saying that being a nice guy will take them to the next level either but it will improve relations with fighters. For instance, Eddie Alvarez's departure was pretty much a sure thing once his next fight was over. Now with Coker Alvarez says that might not be the case after all. Does that mean Eddie Alvarez will 100% stay with Bellator? Of course not but it does improve their chances somewhat.