In mixed martial arts, there are such a wide array of fans that it’s hard to pin down for promoters who should fight whom and what the fight means in terms of rankings and popularity. This makes what Joe Silva, UFC matchmaker, and Joe Caplan, Bellator matchmaker, even more difficult and exciting. We all know the wild success of the UFC and its pay per views, Fox cards, and Fight Pass cards, but Bellator has always held its own on cable television, until now.
A few months ago Bellator announced its first venture onto pay per view with the headliner of Tito Ortiz vs. Rampage Jackson. That didn’t happen and it turned back into a free card on Spike TV. Now, the rescheduling has happened and Bellator 120 will mark the promotions first pay per view event. I understand that it will be difficult to make that purchase since the talent is not as promising as UFC fighters, however I would recommend to getting some buddies together and chipping in on the cost because this could be the start of one of two things, the UFC conquering the market or smaller promotions chipping away at the pay per view market.
First, let’s examine the fight card so far and maybe the headliners will attract your wallet. There won’t be Tito vs. Rampage, but both fighters will compete, Tito has been called out by middleweight champ Alexander Shlemenko and Rampage will meet Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.
Ortiz and Shlemenko will meet at Light heavyweight and puts up real questions for both fighters. Can Tito Ortiz still fight? Injury after injury has plagued Ortiz for years, causing him to pull out of fights and probably underperform in the fights he made, but this test against dominant champ Shlemenko will prove if he can still hang around with the top guys. For the middleweight champ, it’s a question of beating the big names. He hasn’t lost since October of 2010 to then champ Hector Lombard and has racked up a record of 50-7, however his resume doesn’t consist of the world’s best, just the best of Bellator. Beating Ortiz will prove that he can win the big one, depending on the shape that Ortiz comes in to the fight.
The co-main event is Rampage Jackson taking on King Mo. This fight is a long time coming since both men have trash talked each other since before either one was in Bellator. Additionally, this fight is the finals of the Light heavyweight tournament, with the winner getting a shot at the champ, Emmanuel Newton, who holds a knockout and decision win over King Mo. This fight is sure to end with fireworks as Rampage has looked nearly unstoppable in Bellator with a newfound passion for violence. King Mo also looks to silence critics since his less than stellar performances have been shown here in Bellator.
The biggest reason to watch this inaugural pay per view event is the conclusion to one of the most exciting fight trilogies in the history of MMA, Eddie Alvarez defends his Lightweight title against Michael Chandler. These two first met when Chandler had won the Lightweight tournament and these two put on an epic show which concluded in the 4th round when Chandler stopped Alvarez and locked in a submission to win the title, beating the biggest star under the Bellator brand. Alvarez would go on to beat Shinya Aoki and Patricky Freire in his last two fights in his contract, this would begin a long and arduous time for Bellator and Alvarez, as allegations and lawsuits were thrown around about his contract, matching periods, and money. Chandler would go on to pick up wins over longtime MMA vet Akhiro Gono, Rick Hawn and season 8 winner, David Rickels. Then the rematch was set as Alvarez settled on a contract with Bellator and in one of the best fights I’ve personally seen, Eddie Alvarez would win a highly contested Split Decision victory to reclaim the title.
These two have mirrored the fast paced and memorable moments like Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, which made Bellator’s popularity spike in the process. This is all coming to head as these two will meet for a third time to settle the score and declare the Undisputed Lightweight champion.
Pretty exciting sounding right? That’s only three fights so far, with a few more tournament semifinals wrapping up around this time, there should be some big name match-ups announced soon. Bellator has always been the small promotion and hasn’t garnered a large following due to the lack of “big” names.
However, now with former UFC fighters coming over and a potential step up to PPV money, this promotion could make Viacom, owners of Spike TV, designate a little more time and cash into Bellator. This also can influence other promotions like OneFC, who recently signed Ben Askren, Bellator’s former welterweight champion, and World Series of Fighting, who has signed many of the released fighters from the UFC. These two large companies may see fit to get into the pay per view game and put out their big name signees that can still draw numbers from their time elsewhere. The landscape of mixed martial arts can be changed in one way or another come May 17th, we’ll just have to tune in and find out.
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