Last Friday’s Bellator 129 was one of the last three events being put on this year by the promotion. During the broadcast it was announced that a fifth match was added to Bellator 131 with newly-signed Nam Phan set to face Mike Richmon on November 15th. The following day more details were revealed about Scott Coker’s potentially troubling plans for the future of Bellator MMA.
The first thing done away with was the tournament format, which may not have been a favorite but it is what Bellator MMA was built on and a lot of their more popular fighters came from winning these tournaments. Another loss here is that the tournament format seemed to set a hierarchy in the promotion. If a fighter was injured and had to pull out of a fight, the tournaments made choosing a substitute an easy choice, and one where fans fans would not have to wonder where the new fighter came from or if their ability warranted the decision of being a replacement. If a fighter got injured, a tournament finalist or former champion made sense as next in line. After all that’s how Will Brooks got his chance against Michael Chandler at Bellator 120 to gain the interim lightweight title. It is better than pulling someone out of hat like the UFC did with Patrick Cummins when he made his debut against Daniel Cormier at UFC 170 to replace the injured Rashad Evans. That was a hard sell since the fight was on Pay Per View. I wonder if Cummins would have done better if he didn’t have to work so hard to promote himself as a viable opponent in the event because he only had a 4-0 record with all fights outside of the UFC.
The other change is when events will air and the frequency in which they will do so. “Once per month, on Friday nights, year around, there will be a live show on Spike. Three or four times a year, also on Spike, there will be big shows on Saturday nights, loaded up with stars and heavily promoted” according to MMA Fighting. Bellator has already established Friday night as their night on Spike. Since they began airing on Spike I have tuned in just about every Friday since that became their format. I don’t think less is more in this case, and my concern is that less will indeed be less.
Granted, saving broadcast dates for better cards is a good idea, but with the tournament format they had was a good way for an up and coming fighter to establish himself. Emmanuel Newton, who defends his title again at Bellator 130 became champion this way and has successfully defended his title and had made an impression with two spinning back fist finishes. I do like the idea of super cards but they will be directly competing with the UFC and World Series of Fighting (WSOF) when they hold their broadcast events during the primetime hours on Saturdays.
I love the sport and watch as many events as my internet and television provider give me access to but when one of them fails, like when Pride Fighting Championships became defunct it is sad for the fans and more sad for the fighters that have to look for a new promotion to fight for.
Scott Coker is not inexperienced in the fight business, after all he was the CEO of Strikeforce and they put on a lot of good shows and produced many good fighters that now fight in the UFC, like Cormier, Cummins and Ronda Rousey.
November 15th will be a ratings battle to see if this formula works since WSOF 15 will be happening as well as the UFC 180 pay per view. I have no idea which live event I will be watching but I hope I have enough space on my DVR for the other too.
For full details of Scott Coker’s future plans for Bellator MMA follow the link below. Scott Coker says changes coming to Bellator in 2015 | MMA Fighting
Thank you for reading. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest in sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
