Bellator has dropped the ball on women's 125lbs division.

[leto1776]

This was something I posted in the womens' divisions discussion, but feel it also deserves its own thread.

Bellator Signs Six Female Flyweights; Will Crown Champ in 2017

This was posted on @awiv 's website back in April. Six fighters, only one of whom has even been signed to fight (Letourneau, pulled out of said fight with injury). Only one of them has fought recently, Na Liang tasted defeat for the first time back in July. Instead they keep having the same women fight over and over, with no sign of what's to come in the title picture.

WTF is Bellator doing? This it what drives me nuts about Bellator under Coker and Rich Chou. No real direction whatsoever, no build up to anything, just random fights put together. Also, no sign of a title fight anytime soon. Meanwhile, TUF is almost finished filming. Bellator dropped the ball with this division.

 

[DrGlaze]

Women's Featherweight has a champ before Flyweight, I think that's what I'm most surprised about. They need to just let their female divisions go already.

 

[qw3rty]

It isn't worse than HW division, considering they have had heavies since Bellator 1. Two years without a HW champ is crazy

IMO they don't give a fck about belts, they just wanna put the biggest name on the cards
The model is actually opposed to UFC's, WME brass really want to have champions because of their stupid idea that every PPV should have a championship fight

 

[Rizz]

This was something I posted in the womens' divisions discussion, but feel it also deserves its own thread.

Bellator Signs Six Female Flyweights; Will Crown Champ in 2017

This was posted on @awiv 's website back in April. Six fighters, only one of whom has even been signed to fight (Letourneau, pulled out of said fight with injury). Only one of them has fought recently, Na Liang tasted defeat for the first time back in July. Instead they keep having the same women fight over and over, with no sign of what's to come in the title picture.

WTF is Bellator doing? This it what drives me nuts about Bellator under Coker and Rich Chou. No real direction whatsoever, no build up to anything, just random fights put together. Also, no sign of a title fight anytime soon. Meanwhile, TUF is almost finished filming. Bellator dropped the ball with this division.

The 125 Division is mostly the hot girl division for Bellator. Lets take for example who has gotten the most promotion. Valarie Leourneau has been promoted like a star and she 8-6 on a 3 fight losing streak while their 145 Champ can't get a fight and gets no promotion. Kristi Lopez is starting to get promotion even though she last fought in 2014 in that promotion in Cali where they put fighters vs soccer moms. Julia Budd has been begging for promotion and fights and they tell her no but Heather Hardy can get a fight instantly. The mistake is that Bellator is leaning too much on the looks. It is all about Balance when trying to make a star. Looks help a lot but if they are not good fighters they will only get so popular. They are trying to find their Gina Carano. They gonna find a good looking fighter and continually feed her cans.

Source on Julia Budds issues involving her treatment by Bellator.
http://theprovince.com/sports/mma/k...ned-mma-champ-julia-budd-hot-with-frustration

 

[awiv]

In terms of Budd, the best thing they can do at the moment is offer her Joanna Baars in kickboxing while the division fixes itself. A lot of it will bare out Friday with the Talita Nogueira vs Amanda Bell and Arlene Blencowe vs Sinead Kavanagh matches.

Kristi Lopez debuts this weekend by the way - will be posting an interview with her on Thursday.

Coker told me directly "by the end of the year" for a flyweight champion to be crowned. Ilima-Lei will most likely be one side of the equation. The other side hinges on Val and how Colleen fairs this weekend.

 

[qw3rty]

In terms of Budd, the best thing they can do at the moment is offer her Joanna Baars in kickboxing while the division fixes itself. A lot of it will bare out Friday with the Talita Nogueira vs Amanda Bell and Arlene Blencowe vs Sinead Kavanagh matches.

Kristi Lopez debuts this weekend by the way - will be posting an interview with her on Thursday.

Coker told me directly "by the end of the year" for a flyweight champion to be crowned. Ilima-Lei will most likely be one side of the equation. The other side hinges on Val and how Colleen fairs this weekend.

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane is the uncrowned queen of WFLW, I'm glad they at least ain't making Val vs Heather/Yankova

 

[leto1776]

So Kristi Lopez is fighting this weekend. Way at the bottom of the card, so likely unwatchable as a post lim fight. The rest of my OP still stands. Alejandra Lara hasn't fought since February, Velasquez longer than that, and Liang had to fight elsewhere to stay active.

The 125 Division is mostly the hot girl division for Bellator. Lets take for example who has gotten the most promotion. Valarie Leourneau has been promoted like a star and she 8-6 on a 3 fight losing streak while their 145 Champ can't get a fight and gets no promotion. Kristi Lopez is starting to get promotion even though she last fought in 2014 in that promotion in Cali where they put fighters vs soccer moms. Julia Budd has been begging for promotion and fights and they tell her no but Heather Hardy can get a fight instantly. The mistake is that Bellator is leaning too much on the looks. It is all about Balance when trying to make a star. Looks help a lot but if they are not good fighters they will only get so popular. They are trying to find their Gina Carano. They gonna find a good looking fighter and continually feed her cans.

Source on Julia Budds issues involving her treatment by Bellator.
http://theprovince.com/sports/mma/k...ned-mma-champ-julia-budd-hot-with-frustration

I can agree about them basically treating it as their pretty girl division, which is ridiculous, as Yankova has weight problems, and she's one of the original fighters they brought in to market this division.

As for Budd, she's just unmarketable. Cure for insomnia, maybe. No skill, just gets by on strength.

 

[HaulParris]

Coker is too busy plotting the next Royce-Shamrock rematch to actually focus on current fighters.

 

[kingcillo24]

Bellator is doing a better job of promoting the 125 division than Invicta. Now the UFC is starting up the division, so they missed out.

 

[leto1776]

Bellator is doing a better job of promoting the 125 division than Invicta. Now the UFC is starting up the division, so they missed out.

This I can agree with. Invicta has been dropping the ball lately. Four vacant championships, and the lone champion hasn't defended in a hot minute.

 

[VIP1349]

Bellator messes up all the time. The only explanation to me is money issues. If crowning a champ means they pay that fighter more. Its the only thing that makes sense.

They should have crowned a Heavyweight champ. Make a fight feel big. Still haven't with no fight booked in site.

Have a ton of champs. None of them are booked on a regular basis.

There was a time Bellator had momentum. It is wild how badly they have fucked that up. Benson and Patricky show is solid. But not a single huge casual show the rest the year.

125 should have a champ by now. Why not? Get two girls in there and make a star. If they let UFC beat them to the punch that will be the ultimate cringe.

 

[GoldenAzazel]

Not the greatest strategy but they could be banking on Hardy becoming a big star. She definitely has the personality for it, but I wasn't too impressed with her debut.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

It looked like Bellator was going to make Ilima Macfarlane their face of WMMA. This seems to have slowed down a bit. She has the talent to be a good champion for Bellator as she has very good wins (besides soccer mom, of course). Macfarlane also isn't so bad on the eyes. She has all the tools to be a Ronda-esque fighter for Bellator.

Macfarlane simply needs an opponent for the Flyweight title later this year (Ducote 2, maybe?). That's literally it IMO. They should be able to churn out another contender next year.

As far as the Flyweight division goes, it is not so bad. It's much better than Bellator's other terrible divisions like Heavyweight, Light-Heavyweight, and Bantamweight (Yeah, I said it. That division has like 9 people in it)

 

[qw3rty]

This I can agree with. Invicta has been dropping the ball lately. Four vacant championships, and the lone champion hasn't defended in a hot minute.

C'mon Leto, UFC have taken any champ Invicta have crowned, they can't do much more than that

 

[leto1776]

C'mon Leto, UFC have taken any champ Invicta have crowned, they can't do much more than that

They haven't really done much of anything worth noting in a while. Sign fighters who never fight for them (not always on Invicta, I know), Ignore whole divisions for some events, unclear future plans, murky title pictures, and ever depleting rosters, while other organizations are announcing new signings all the time.

I could talk about Invicta more, but I don't want to divert off the subject of my own thread.

 

[kimocomplex]

Bellator can be very frustrating

 

[msm1981]

As far as I can tell there problems with the
women's divisons is they are not on the TV
cards to get exposure since they are on the
undercards.The problem with Julia Budd is
she retires Marloes Coenen and now she
can't get a opponent thanks to no one worth
a title shot thanks to crummy records.

 

[InfinityLens]

Coker can build a roster, but he has trouble knowing how to use one.

 

[Auspex]

Couple 125ers on the main card tonight. Veta gonna be throwing down!

 

[AronaBeatsJones]

Add in Ilima Lei-Macfarlane and Anastasia Yankova, and they have just about enough flyweights to do a FLWGP for the inaugural title.