Bellator 180 (6/24): Wand v. Chael (PPV @ MSG)

[Bernman]

Somehow Chandler didn't break any bones, ligaments, muscles, etc. Injury was nerve damage, and he said he'd be fine in 2 weeks.

Coker basically said Primus landed a kick to a nerve that shut off all feeling in his foot.

Well aimed/timed shot by Primus!

I've seen this confirmed by other fighters that they've experienced it, and there can be a delay in the effect. So I take that back that Primus shouldn't have have celebrated so vociferously. He earned the victory, just in a way we're not accustomed to seeing and had a hard time attributing it to him at the time.

But it is kind of a freaky thing so I do think warrants an immediate rematch.

[REDDzone]

IDK maybe I misheard but I think he said that he felt he was less fights away from a title shot at 135 than 145. Also I'm assuming he wants to go the Conor route and get two belts and probably feels like he will grow out of 135 at some point.

[Bernman]

Early reporting has this foray of Bellator's into ppv as about the same as their last, which accrued just over 100k ppv buys. That was viewed as a considerable success given expectations and investment. This time around it'll be viewed as a major failure because of the amount of money they spent to rent MSG, pay all their fighters, and the pyrotechnics they use these days. Bjornator was a lot better at managing their finances and producing good cards people would come back to see for a long-term R.O.I., than Spikeforce has been to date. With the recent card announcements, hopefully Bellator are getting more back to the old model of substance over style. They can still work in the occasional Kimbo-Dada freak fight, so long as it's limited to one max per special event, and it's being sandwiched by real fights which the casual viewer will then return to see.

[Jasen777]

OTOH, it might have matched UFC 213.

[REDDzone]

OTOH, it might have matched UFC 213.

Guessing UFC 213 was abysmal. The BWW chain for example canceled ordering the PPV once the main event fell through. We called around and several places that usually showed it didn't bother with that one, at least around here.

[Jasen777]

Guessing UFC 213 was abysmal. The BWW chain for example canceled ordering the PPV once the main event fell through. We called around and several places that usually showed it didn't bother with that one, at least around here.

Apparently it was bad, but not Might Mouse bad.

https://www.mmafighting.com/2017/7/20/16002482/estimated-pay-per-view-numbers-are-in-for-ufc-213-bellator-nyc

UFC 213 on July 8, the show that lost its main event of Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko at the last minute, is currently projected to do in the range of 125,000 to 150,000 buys. With the headliner of Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero for the interim middleweight title, that could wind up as the lowest UFC number for a pay-per-view event, with the exception of some shows headlined by Demetrious Johnson, over the last decade. That correlates with the prelims rating on FS 1 being the lowest in nearly three years....

But that show still figures to come out ahead of Bellator's June 24 show in Madison Square Garden, which based on early estimates looks to be in the 90,000 to 130,000 buy range.

[Bernman]

The BWW chain for example canceled ordering the PPV once the main event fell through. We called around and several places that usually showed it didn't bother with that one, at least around here.

And that was in spite of the most famous fighter from the area being on the card.

Apparently it was bad, but not Might Mouse bad.

https://www.mmafighting.com/2017/7/20/16002482/estimated-pay-per-view-numbers-are-in-for-ufc-213-bellator-nyc

UFC 213 on July 8, the show that lost its main event of Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko at the last minute, is currently projected to do in the range of 125,000 to 150,000 buys. With the headliner of Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero for the interim middleweight title, that could wind up as the lowest UFC number for a pay-per-view event, with the exception of some shows headlined by Demetrious Johnson, over the last decade. That correlates with the prelims rating on FS 1 being the lowest in nearly three years...

And Mouse wonders why the UFC doesn't try to promote him more....

You know I hate Dana White, but I'm kind of with him on that one.....shut it down. A lot of them can fight at 135 and make more interesting match-ups as they formerly did. 135 isn't a very deep division itself. I'd like to see DJ, Joe B., Cejudo, Sergio, Horiguchi, etc.; mix it up with current 135 lb group. But not so much against each other, certainly when they're leaner, and definitely not against much of the rest of that division. Those fire hydrants who have come up like Lineker and Dodson have done pretty well. Rivera is well up there.

I feel the same way about women's mma in general, and have a similar stance as Gegard. They built it up around Ronda, and she effectively ain't even around anymore. I say find one central weight, and that's where everybody should fight, otherwise they shouldn't compete in major MMA. Joanna was down to fight Shevchenko. Maybe it's 125 or 130.

As is, they and the male 125 lbers on average are just hurting momentum/interest in cards overall. If they consolidated and pared down, they might help them.

At a certain point in lack of size/power, it's a niche interest, in arguably a niche sport. They can find orgs to accommodate that, like they used to.

[Jasen777]

And Mouse wonders why the UFC doesn't try to promote him more....

He's not a PPV headliner (with Rousey gone and maybe Conor, how many are there really?), but that doesn't mean they can't promote him better.

Also the UFC didn't resign Horiguchi.

[REDDzone]

I wouldn't care if they abolished 125, it just annoys me that Dana the petulant child just threatens to do it because he's mad at DJ.

[REDDzone]

^^ And that's not because I think 125 is niche or anything like that either. I like 125 fights. I just think the division is so thin its ridiculous. I think Mouse is the best fighter in the world but him beating guys like Chris Cariaso or Wilson Reis in title fights...meh.

[Knickfan1982]

I'll do a fights to make, since this was a special event, and I know a lot about Bellator still:

Douglas Lima vs. Rory Macdonald for the ww title
Michael Chandler vs. Brent Primus II for lw title
Ryan Bader vs. King Mo for lhw title
Lorenz Larkin vs. MVP
Phil Davis vs. Linton Vassell
Chael Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva II
Matt Mitrione vs. Sergei Kharitonov
James Gallagher vs. Justin Lawrence
Neiman Gracie vs. Ricky Rainey
Zach Freeman vs. Steve Kozola
Aaron Pico vs. Jonathan Bonilla-Bowman (1-0)

To be fair. I think Kharitonov would be a step down for Mitrione at this point. Kharitonov looks as shot as Fedor but never peaked as high as Fedor did. I think Mitrione deserves an interm title fight (if not the full title since it hasn't been defended in so long) in a rematch with Cheick Kongo. Make the Roy Nelson and Javy Ayala fight winner the #1 contender for the belt.

[Bernman]

I wouldn't care if they abolished 125, it just annoys me that Dana the petulant child just threatens to do it because he's mad at DJ.

Thinking about it, wasn't the reason he was mad at him was because he wasn't marketable at 125 and didn't want to fight 135 lbers who were viewed as more so in that department?

^^ And that's not because I think 125 is niche or anything like that either. I like 125 fights. I just think the division is so thin its ridiculous. I think Mouse is the best fighter in the world but him beating guys like Chris Cariaso or Wilson Reis in title fights...meh.

But you just explained why it's a niche interest, like women's mma as presently constituted. Depth is hard to come by, when you have those genes.