Bellator General Discussion and Info

[j4remi]

Anyone care about tomorrow night's card? Fedor vs Mitrione.

Thomson vs Pitbull is the fight to watch on that one imo (Thomson vs Chandler next with a win I'd hope). I'm kinda dreading Fedor vs Mitrione after the Maldonado fight.

[REDDzone]

Mitrione is just so effing reckless. I can't see how somebody doesn't get slept in that fight.

[Bernman]

Bellator wants to get you a little interested initially with name value, then based on the washed up fighters and mismatches they deliver these days, ensure that you aren't interested for a long time again.

I honestly enjoy watching Legacy more these days because they are younger, hungrier, and fresher guys, who make entertaining matches and have a promising future, and Legacy isn't pretending to be anything it's not. Bellator has stopped making any attempt to build anything, and instead their sole motive is pretty much to sell the next card off the work of another promotion. Then the bodies that occupy their organization they throw haphazardly onto the under-card or a throwaway one in between, just so they can still pretend they are a solidified MMA promotion.

Where are the fights to both grab people's attention and keep it going forward? Why did they move so slow with Page and are they done trying to push him just because that one last get me over performance? Is Douglas Lima going to just sit on the sidelines until Rory is ready? Why not ask Shlemenko to drop down to his natural weight class of 170 and make fireworks with Lima? Piccolotti looks super promising and exciting, why aren't they making him ascend faster? Why make Michael Chandler wait so long for Josh Thomson specifically? Why do they keep featuring Dave Rickels against journeyman in the midwest? Why cut a bunch of contenders at their lower divisions who made exciting and interesting fights for the champions and others? Why sign a bunch of 0-0 pedigreed wrestlers who take forever to move up and aren't that entertaining? After Bjorn left, it's just been a progressive descent into incompetence, terrible ROI's, and fans at home not giving a crap.

Get that union off the ground, and make it so there's no point in WSOF and Bellator in this space. They're just taking it up. I'm ready for UFC to be the sole player in town, as long as the athletes will still be reasonably compensated.

[Cammo101]

Bern, watching you wash his hands of Bellator makes me sad. You were the first guy on that Bellator bandwagon, it's sad to see you jump off, even if I agree with most of what you sad.

[Bernman]

Mitrione got sick, so they had to cancel the fight.

They will prove their next level incompetence/myopia if they don't just have Fedor fight Kongo, and give Oli his show money. Otherwise they're tanking the card for tv and alienating the in house audience.

[Bernman]

Bern, watching you wash his hands of Bellator makes me sad. You were the first guy on that Bellator bandwagon, it's sad to see you jump off, even if I agree with most of what you sad.

It's not the same people running it anymore, though. So it's basically a completely different organization that they've stripped down over time into something similar to EliteXC and other ones like that whose business models I despised. I believed in the prospects that Bjorn was building up due to long-term mindset and tourney format, which I hoped they keep but tweak over time to sign necessary big ticket fa's here and there. Basically I somewhat stuck around for the remnants of what Bjorn had built. Those guys still made some great, high-level fights when they locked horns.

And my desire for a strong #2, to possibly overtake the UFC, always primarily centered around the need for competition without a union, especially with the way MMA promotion treated fighters. But with a union on the horizon, I guess that would no longer be necessary anymore.

[REDDzone]

Meathead has kidney stones.

[Bernman]

Guess that JT-Chandler fight is never going to happen, unless Chandler loses the belt, and it's a feature. If they really wanted it, they just should have made it after that last win for JT. It's not like he needed to build up his name in Bellator.

That didn't look like so much of a product of a fighter declining. JT's reflexes and movement actually looked pretty sharp. Actually better than usual because he's had plenty of injuries. Patricky's timing, accuracy, and power were just exceptional. First he displayed it on the counter right to the temple, then the ko blow catching JT ducking down. He's evolved his counter game. Used to need to be the aggressor, really. He did get sort of lucky on the headbutt. Don't know how much that influenced the outcome.

I really don't think we need to see Patricky-Chandler 3 though. It's already been established Chandler is on another level. I'd rather see Patricio Pitbull-Chandler 1, especially after Patricio was cruising against Bendo before the injury. Piccolotti would be sort of the Cody Garbrandt-type pick. Might not be ready and doesn't have a great or long resume, but he's talented, exciting, and has a following. Primus is another guy who deserves to be in the conversation. If they want a name, they'd have to sign him, and I don't know who is out there.

[cowboyronnie]

Guess that JT-Chandler fight is never going to happen, unless Chandler loses the belt, and it's a feature. If they really wanted it, they just should have made it after that last win for JT. It's not like he needed to build up his name in Bellator.

That didn't look like so much of a product of a fighter declining. JT's reflexes and movement actually looked pretty sharp. Actually better than usual because he's had plenty of injuries. Patricky's timing, accuracy, and power were just exceptional. First he displayed it on the counter right to the temple, then the ko blow catching JT ducking down. He's evolved his counter game. Used to need to be the aggressor, really. He did get sort of lucky on the headbutt. Don't know how much that influenced the outcome.

I really don't think we need to see Patricky-Chandler 3 though. It's already been established Chandler is on another level. I'd rather see Patricio Pitbull-Chandler 1, especially after Patricio was cruising against Bendo before the injury. Piccolotti would be sort of the Cody Garbrandt-type pick. Might not be ready and doesn't have a great or long resume, but he's talented, exciting, and has a following. Primus is another guy who deserves to be in the conversation. If they want a name, they'd have to sign him, and I don't know who is out there.

I disagree. Thomson's body looked messed-up, something with his pelvis. He wasn't changing levels in the striking movement. It was all that weird cat boxing and a stiff upper body, not tucking his chin. Lower back or groin issue, I'd guess.

[cowboyronnie]

Mitrione got sick, so they had to cancel the fight.

They will prove their next level incompetence/myopia if they don't just have Fedor fight Kongo, and give Oli his show money. Otherwise they're tanking the card for tv and alienating the in house audience.

Not a chance Fedor would ever take a last minute opponent change. He's so calculated, his team so calculated.

That said, it's ridiculous if he turned down Oli. They said multiple fights were offered. Turning-down Kongo, I get, you need to have spent 90% of your camp in guard. But Oli could not have been formed in a lab as a more suitable Fedor opponent.

The GOAT turns down a guy who was a pro bodybuilder like 3 years ago lol.

[Jasen777]

Not a chance Fedor would ever take a last minute opponent change. He's so calculated, his team so calculated.

True (though not necessarily a bad ting, IMO), but I don't think he was officially offered. There's a California rule about having to offer a period for refunds if the main event is cancelled so they didn't have much time to do anything.

[cowboyronnie]

Not a chance Fedor would ever take a last minute opponent change. He's so calculated, his team so calculated.

True (though not necessarily a bad ting, IMO), but I don't think he was officially offered. There's a California rule about having to offer a period for refunds if the main event is cancelled so they didn't have much time to do anything.

Can you elaborate?

The pbp guy at the very beginning of the broadcast said that Fedor was offered a number of options but wanted to fight Matt at a later date.

[Jasen777]

Can you elaborate?

http://www.mmafighting.com/2017/2/19/14661442/scott-coker-explains-why-bellator-did-not-get-a-last-second-replacement-to-fight-fedor-emelianenko

There were some options available to fight Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 172 on Saturday night in San Jose, Calif. Ultimately, Bellator could not make anything work in a small window of time and the card’s main event had to be scrapped.

On Saturday morning, Matt Mitrione, Emelianenko’s scheduled foe, had to go to the hospital due to a case of kidney stones. Things were up in the air until 3 p.m. local time, just minutes before fights started at the SAP Center. At that point, Coker said Bellator had no choice but to postpone Emelianenko’s promotional debut. If the planned main event was canceled, Bellator had to give fans who bought tickets time to get a refund, per California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) rule.

Sonnen was perhaps the most legitimate potential late-notice replacement, especially since he already has a CSAC license since he fought just last month, falling to Ortiz. But it just didn’t fit what Bellator wanted to do.

“We have other plans for Chael and it would have interfered in that,” Coker said at the post-fight press conference. “It just got complicated and then the timeframe. I feel like we ran out of time. We set a deadline internally. … We had an obligation to the consumer to let the know this fight was going to be off.”

Coker added that Emelianenko was not privy to any discussions about a potential new opponent like a Sonnen or an Ortiz. The MMA legend didn’t see too enthusiastic about that prospect anyway...

[Bernman]

If they had Shael replace Meathead, I doubt any fans would have wanted a refund, especially those who flew or traveled a long way for the event, predominantly for Fedor. So I consider this yet another marketing mistake by Bellator. Fans in attendance and at home would be much more dissatisfied with this resolution as opposed to alternatives. Unless Fedor indeed was amenable to not facing a replacement and Bellator isn't just protecting him by taking the responsibility. But that wouldn't be smart either because they're brand is much bigger than him. If it's not, then they are EliteXC.

Shael earns brownie points for his accommodating nature to both fans and the organization he's working for, at least somewhat offsetting looking for ways out of fights quickly when they aren't going his way and all the positive roid tests.

[cowboyronnie]

It's not believable that they didn't try to get out in front of that earlier. I believe they did, and that offers were made. Protecting Fedor, they are protecting themselves. He's been a huge investment that hasn't paid a .01 in return yet, they can't leave him out to dry. So they give it a particular narration where no one looks too much of an ass****.

They have also made contradictory statements, cos the announcer on the broadcast 100% said that Fedor had been made offers and chose to fight Matt later.

If Fedor turned down Chael, it's ridiculous. Chael is not Kongo.

Respect to Chael, BTW. Fedor is 240, has crazy 1-punch power, and throws from angles he's never seen. Not Tito's 1-2-3 patter. There is good chance Chael loses consciousness bad in that fight.

[REDDzone]

Lol Chael is always willing to take an *ss kicking for a check.

[Bernman]

Lol Chael is always willing to take an *ss kicking for a check.

You mean always willing to check out from an ass kicking for a check.

p.s.: They don't censor ass here. But thanks for being family friendly on an MMA forum.

[cowboyronnie]

Lol Chael is always willing to take an *ss kicking for a check.

Regardless. The ability to just jump into virtually any fight against anyone at anytime, even even if it's for good money, is remarkable.

He's a multi-millionaire at this point, he's probably already going to bank 7 figures this year, with lots of future options, he's still OK with the possibility of getting KTFOd for 400K or whatever.

[Jasen777]

Good signing - Bellator signs Brazilian bantamweight prospect Leandro Higo

Leandro Higo, the Legacy Fighting Alliance 135-pound champion, has signed an exclusive, multi-fight deal with the promotion, Bellator officials told MMA Fighting on Thursday.

Higo (17-2) became the RFA bantamweight champion last April with a first-round submission over Joey Miolla. When RFA and Legacy FC merged into LFA, the Brazilian added the LFA belt to his resume with a decision victory over Legacy FC champion Steven Peterson in January.

[REDDzone]

I just found out one of my training partners signed with bellator. Pretty sure for the Mo/Page card. Doesn't have an extensive mma record so I'm guessing they do the thing where they fill out the prelims with local/regional talent (that card is in IL).