Bellator to build Western Europe-focused MMA series in 2019

Reb said:
I'm telling you: Bellator Rotterdam is gonna be a nice card.

Mousasi vs Rory
Manhoef vs Shlemenko
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If only this could be true:
tenor.gif
 
leto1776 said:
One event. One event they had catered to the US time zones.
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There have been TWO title fights in Europe in the last TEN years (36 events).

One of them was Bisping vs Henderson, the other was Joanna vs Penne.

Think of how many belts are flying around left and right in the UFC..but the whole continent of Europe has seen 2 in 10 years, and one of them was while we were all asleep.

The reason why ONLY one card was on in the middle of the night is because that's the only PPV card (and the only PPV worthy card) UFC have had in Europe in 10 years.
As for the other 35, they didn't think any Americans would pay to watch such mediocre offerings, so they allowed the locals to watch it at a reasonable time.

(The same cannot be said for cards in Australia).
 
Bellator's broadcasting and promotion , with the tape delay and the YT stream, was awful this weekend for the London card.

We've got Spike here in the Netherlands and they constantly air Bellator events that happend one or two years ago, but never live. Just don't understand why we couldn't watch it live here, especially since it wasn't a PPV (it wasn't right?).
 
noizer said:
is there any confirmation Bellator will come to Rotterdam? If so i will be there 100%. ( if the card is decent that is )
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Nah but the signs are there. Coker said they will do more Western Europe cards. Manhoef is training again. Coker met Manhoef and Mousasi in the Netherlands. Manhoef posted this a few months ago

 
UK and maybe Sweden are the only places in western europe where MMA is popular.

Although having some really good dutch fighters with Mousasi,Manhoef,van Steenis,Baars or Kielholtz I also don't really see them taking over the Dutch market with MMA, and at Kickboxing they won't be able to compete with Glory or Enfusion.
 
Koniradi98 said:
UK and maybe Sweden are the only places in western europe where MMA is popular.

Although having some really good dutch fighters with Mousasi,Manhoef,van Steenis,Baars or Kielholtz I also don't really see them taking over the Dutch market with MMA, and at Kickboxing they won't be able to compete with Glory or Enfusion.
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I wish I could say otherwise but combat sports just aren't populair here (NL), apart from the hardcore fans, nobody knows who Mousasi is. Hell, even Rico Verhoeven could go on the street unrecognized until the Badr fight.

It is pretty weird, because as soon as there is a Dutchmen good at any sport the whole country starts following him and the sport but combat sports always had a really bad image here. Sucks but true.
 
There is reason why the UFC hasn't plastered themselves all over western Europe, demand just isn't there to make it worth while. They have more lucrative markets to conquer first. The little bit they have dabbled outside of the UK and Ireland has been a mixed bag. I can guarantee you the UFC does a shit ton of research before going into new markets. If it doesn't add up they don't go.

I hope Bellator finds some success there, but I'm not holding my hopes up high for these few events that sound like more or less glorified smoker matches. Just slapping the Bellator name on some show I don't think means automatic success.

Personally, Coker has a lot of work to do on US soil before thinking of holding some rinky dink show in the suburbs of Paris, France or whatever. The dude has to the right ship or he may not have a ship to command much longer.
 
They will sign Robin van Roosmalen in a few weeks, mark my words.
 
Might want to get some decent TV deals over there
 
Katsumi Yamada said:
There have been TWO title fights in Europe in the last TEN years (36 events).

One of them was Bisping vs Henderson, the other was Joanna vs Penne.

Think of how many belts are flying around left and right in the UFC..but the whole continent of Europe has seen 2 in 10 years, and one of them was while we were all asleep.

The reason why ONLY one card was on in the middle of the night is because that's the only PPV card (and the only PPV worthy card) UFC have had in Europe in 10 years.
As for the other 35, they didn't think any Americans would pay to watch such mediocre offerings, so they allowed the locals to watch it at a reasonable time.

(The same cannot be said for cards in Australia).
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So let’s talk title fights, then. How many European champions have the UFC had? Why have a title fight in Europe if there’s no local connection to either fighter? How many fighters are actually fine with not fighting on ppv?
 
South-East said:
They will sign Robin van Roosmalen in a few weeks, mark my words.
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Just your guess or have you heard rumors? Id love to see rvr in Bellator. They could offer him both mma and kB matches
 
Johnny Redd said:
The UFC is the NFL of MMA in North America. They're a monopoly that's practically invincible they don't really need to focus on foreign markets to rake in a huge profit. I really believe their indifference to Europe of all places is such a colossally stupid move considering their biggest star is the European born Champion Conor Mcgregor. Bellator is gonna take a huge W for sure
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Yeah but one thing American fans don't seem to understand is that outside of the UK and Ireland, hardly anyone in Europe gives a shit about Conor McGregor. He's far more popular in the U.S. than he is in continental Europe.
 
leto1776 said:
So let’s talk title fights, then. How many European champions have the UFC had? Why have a title fight in Europe if there’s no local connection to either fighter? How many fighters are actually fine with not fighting on ppv?
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That's a weak argument I think.
At least in the UK, the fight fans are real and not just nationalistic.

Look at canada. How many champs have they had? In the same 10yr time frame they SEVEN title fights, not counting the title fights with GSP or another Canadian involved. The likes of Jones vs Gustaffson and Jones vs Belfort were there.

UFC are putting weak cards in Europe because they know the fans will shell out for anything. And they are too short sighted to recognize that there is a huge PPV market, at least in the UK.
 
I'm surprised they're going this route with MMA and not their kickboxing brand. Kickboxing is by far the more popular sport in Europe. Bah! Would've loved to have seen that instead.
 
Katsumi Yamada said:
That's a weak argument I think.
At least in the UK, the fight fans are real and not just nationalistic.

Look at canada. How many champs have they had? In the same 10yr time frame they SEVEN title fights, not counting the title fights with GSP or another Canadian involved. The likes of Jones vs Gustaffson and Jones vs Belfort were there.

UFC are putting weak cards in Europe because they know the fans will shell out for anything. And they are too short sighted to recognize that there is a huge PPV market, at least in the UK.
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I'm not sure I'd use Canada as an example.

They held a lot of big events there because GSP opened the market up, they have the same time zones in America so they don't have to worry about holding events at Noon, cost of the show isn't much different than any US market city, and they don't have any government to fight anymore to hold an event there.

In parts of Europe many of these issues above come to light. So why go through all the red tape and cost for very little pay off in the end? My guess is customer accusation cost become just to high in many of those countries to even venture going to.

They're a global brand but at the same time a majority of their revenue comes in from the North America so that is why the business is skewed to that market heavily.
 
Smart to focus there, go were there is a more open market and compete less toe to toe with the UFC.
 
Baba Ghanoush said:
I'm surprised they're going this route with MMA and not their kickboxing brand. Kickboxing is by far the more popular sport in Europe. Bah! Would've loved to have seen that instead.
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Maybe mainland Europe but in the UK & Ireland kickboxing isn't as popular, especially on TV, the UFC is much bigger than Glory or K1 ever where and even Bamma & Cage Warriors are on TV. 5Spike in the UK are doing this deal, obviously they are owned by Viacom but they wouldn't do it if they didn't see money in it.

This won't even air in the US.
 
TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle said:
Not sure about this tbh. Where in Europe is it more popular than MMA? Holland, Romania....maybe France?
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I lived in Europe for five years for work across Spain, Germany, and Belgium. Traveled all the time through the mainland. It is MUCH easier to catch or hear about an amateur kickboxing show than it is MMA. Local sports news cover kickboxing much more often, and never even mention MMA other than when the UFC or Bellator are in town. Don't let the popularity of MMA in the US fool you into thinking it's the same all over the world.

I'm sure it's different now in the British Isles due to the rise of Conor McGregor, but that's relatively recent. Which is what Bellator is probably trying to go after.
 
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