FanPost

Is the time 'now' for Bellator Fighting Championship?

 

This past Saturday (August 20 2011) Bellator 48 was live and quite honestly was one of the most impressive shows on television not hosted under the Zuffa umbrella. It had action in almost every fight and even the elite wrestler and Bellator heavyweight champion Cole Konrad stood in against a striker.

Bellator even had Spike TV's hand in the production and had it's first mainstream breakout air in the form of a new sponsorship commercialwith Everlast.

The card was highlighted by underdog, Pat Curran knocking out favored Marlon Sandro in the main event with a beautifully executed head kick. This may in fact been the one Bellator show which has garnered a lot of attention from first time viewers.

Is the time now for Belllatorto assume the second spot in the mixed martial arts world or should it just view the success of Bellator 48 as a nice building block?

This writer thinks it's now for Bellator to act andbelieve it is the second largest promotion in the country because Strikeforce is a mere change of clothes of a UFC show.

In case you have been living under a rock or not a constant reader of our beloved MMAmania, you would notice that it is an automatic give that after every Bellator card we get shown some of the slickest submissions and some of the nicest knockouts in MMA not just Bellator.

Bellator is not just some consumer of ex-UFC guys but rather looking for the best non-exposed talent in the world. It has raised almost all it's champions or atleast grew it's champions who may have had small coffee breaks in bigger promotions. 

It's main stay stars are middleweight champion Hector Lombard, consensus top 5 lightweight and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, welterweight champion Ben Askren and the Freire brothers, Patricky and Patricio. These fighters have kept Bellator on the map because they deliver time in and time out.

Bellator is built upon it's proven model of only the tournament winners of their weight class fight the champion. The model helps maintain the championship clause, where the champion stays until, they lose their championship. The only downfall of this format is that the heavyweight and light heavyweight crop is not as strong outside the Zuffa brand. If Bellator is lucky they might strike gold and find someone who could one day be the best in these weight class.

If Bellator is to succeed it needs to make exceptions to the rule for the heavyweight division especially. To be a natural heavyweight where dieting and proper training aren't the reason you're not cutting down is rare. Joe Riggs comes to mind as he took it more serious andwent from 300 pounds down to 170 pounds. A natural talented heavyweight is a rare find in this sport as many question if UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is too small for heavyweight, answer is no.

At Bellator 48, Bellator heavyweight champion fought Paul Buentello and he fought him at his game. Utilizing an effective jab, he was able to batter Buentello from a distance. Let me ask you this, If Bellatorallowed Konrad to defend his heavyweights trap against Buentello would you be outraged that Neil Grove or Ron Spinks didn't get a shot first?. Look at Konrad's career and see what he did in one year and then laugh that Buentello was a 'tough' opponent for Konrad. Konrad, has been labeled a 'lay and pray'wrestler but did you not notice the crowd before the 1st round started? a huge wave of cheers came over for Konrad.

The one thing that made me sit in 'awe' was the very slick production of their Everlast sponsorship commercial. It was like a sign of bigger and better things to come. It was even kinda funny to see pudgy Ricco Rodriguez get in the commercial without even fighting for Bellator prior to the commercial being filmed. It was indeed a huge step forward for Bellator.

Another issue for Bellator is finding ways to keep their champions active while they wait for teh conclusion of a tournament to produce a number one contender. Hector Lombard and Eddie Alvarez are your hottest commodity and should have 3-4 fights a year on television. Lombard, is a knockout artist as good as anyone at KO'ing people at this moment. He takes little to no damage and stops people in violent fashion so, why does he fight 1-2 times a year for Bellator?. A lot of fair weather fans who make me surprised they follow Bellator always ask 'When's that Lombard guy fighting next?" and i respond 'I don't know' because they hardly get this guy talent to fight.  The pool of legit 155ers around the world is amazing and tthey can't find Eddie Alvarez fights all the time is amazing. Bellator needs to start showcasing the fighters that have made them a name in mixed martial arts.

The best thing about Bellator is that it is free and not a pay per view driven brand. The problem is that it is on MTV2 and MTV2 doesn't feature itself in high definition. The other issue is that it's television deal runs for three years with MTV2 but could Bellator syndicate itself to Spike TV, yes. It could easily allow it's library of now 48 shows as long as it works an agreementwith MTV2. That would be tremendous as a prelude where it could be in three years going onto Spike TV.

So, Maniacs has Bellator 48 shaped your mind on Bellator or do you still not get behind the mixed martial arts promotion quite yet until somethings change. What things would you change for the future?

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