Why must we hate on bellator! We r getting a gp who cares if Kongo boring ass or lashley isn't in it maybe this will lead too other gps in other divisions. Atleast bellator is taking chances and doing different things. People act like a 170 pound guy just didn't win the UFC 185 title people r ignoring the fact the UFC r using a lot of the same tactics. We r getting big names exciting matchups maybe bellators young stars will be on the card and get exposure. Why hate just don't watch you hated how bjorn did things now you hate this stick to UFC you Dana zombies.
Stop the bellator hate just don't watch atleast they r having gps
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Nobody is hating on Bellator. I’m just frustrated because they have so many talented fighters and look at the card we have this weekend and last. So many good young talented fighters they could feature on main card broadcasts and look what they give us. How can you not be disappointed?
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I like that they are back with another tournament and I think they also should focus on building their own talent instead of banking on former ufc guys which seems to be the trend they followed lately.
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UFC should pay close attention cause Bellator is doing a SFORCE but in reverse.Theyre landing elite studs like Gegard and Rory cause they're planning on picking up more (top 5 talent)..
This (heavy GP) is the START of some interesting events that they'll be putting together.... and more to come.
I think once they have enough talent--- an openweight tourney will be on its way and then we'll see who s 100% badass
They can land all the studs they want but until ratings increase (hint they have not) its just a waste on money. UFC rarely overpays for people and knows how to get every last drop of money out the right fighters. Bellator overpays on principle but never has any increase in ratings to show for that...
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Strike force gp was better and that was a mess. I'd be shocked if this actually ends in a year like they plan.
personally, i feel that there is a fair amount of bellator hate on here. some is warranted, other hate, not so much.
the problem i see is that people always say the want the opposite of what bellator provides, but they only state this after bellator has made a decison. bellator gets shat on when they bring in veteran fighters who draw ratings. those critiquing this will say that bellator should be focusing on their own talent.
when bellator holds events with younger talent they are trying to groom, they get shat on because the cards are perceived to be "weak" or ratings are less than stellar. bellator ireland was an example of that. they had gallagher and mckee on the card(james was injured; i know) and even baby slice to a degree, yet it was a brutally weak card to alot on this site.
bellator gets shat on for having tape delayed events, but they will surely get shat on if they hold international events live, as ratings will more than likely suffer even more.
its truly is a no win situation for bellator most of the time.
the problem i see is that people always say the want the opposite of what bellator provides, but they only state this after bellator has made a decison. bellator gets shat on when they bring in veteran fighters who draw ratings. those critiquing this will say that bellator should be focusing on their own talent.
when bellator holds events with younger talent they are trying to groom, they get shat on because the cards are perceived to be "weak" or ratings are less than stellar. bellator ireland was an example of that. they had gallagher and mckee on the card(james was injured; i know) and even baby slice to a degree, yet it was a brutally weak card to alot on this site.
bellator gets shat on for having tape delayed events, but they will surely get shat on if they hold international events live, as ratings will more than likely suffer even more.
its truly is a no win situation for bellator most of the time.
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That shit Ireland card averaged 600000 viewers lol....
McGregor peaked the million viewers early but ppl tuned in and stayed for what was on paper one of the weakest cards to date.
As long as ratings stay between 500,000-700,000 and jump up now and again they are fine.Viacom owns the channel they broadcast on,they are making good money on live gates.merch.sponsors.etc
Trust me I agree ratings could improve but they are far from terrible......look at PFL lol.
McGregor peaked the million viewers early but ppl tuned in and stayed for what was on paper one of the weakest cards to date.
As long as ratings stay between 500,000-700,000 and jump up now and again they are fine.Viacom owns the channel they broadcast on,they are making good money on live gates.merch.sponsors.etc
Trust me I agree ratings could improve but they are far from terrible......look at PFL lol.
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I don't think any of us really know if Spike is happy with 500k to 700K.
Remember a shit Bjorn run Bellator on a shoe string budget was doing those ratings. Spike is spending a whole shit ton more than what they where on Bjorn's Bellator and ratings aren't much different outside of a couple events. That has to worry people behind the scenes on some level.
P.S.: What do you think your thoughts are on Spike very rarely replaying Bellator events, putting together top 20 KOs, etc etc type of shows??? Its almost outside of the event time space Bellator doesn't exist. When the UFC was on Spike it was almost a damn UFC channel there so much content being played around the clock. I've always wondered why they don't do this more often like they did with the UFC. Only conclusion I can come to is they know a "top 5 fights" one hour show will do worse ratings than a rerun of a 5 year old COPS or whatever. Also makes me wonder how committed are they to the MMA cause.
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1) The reason I say that is they own the channel they would love millions of viewers of course but 500,000-700,000 is a good average considering the quality of events differs greatly from show to show.Some shows are stacked with name value but there are plenty of lesser cards featuring up and comers like last week's Ireland show which averaged 600,000 with no names.
2)Bjorns shoe string budget was in mtv2 days......until last year Coker had the same budget Bjorn did.
Also that was YEARS ago if you haven't noticed mma numbers are down .....coker had better viewership ratings then Bjorn did and has attracted more overall viewers.(I did a comparison on this site )The brand has grown internationally, the depth of fighter quality is better,coker is able to land free agents.Bellator is growing and turning a profit,it's doing just fine.The ufc spent millions and years before turning a profit......bellator isn't carrying the whole sport,but it has to push it's brand similarly to how the UFC did after ZUFFA bought from SEG.Its not a finished product and is evolving in not worried at all.
3)personally I don't care they don't rerun events because I watch them live,I never rewatched Bjorn events.
They still do companion programming they did stuff for the ppv but I've been vocal about doing more.even doing a prelims show for bigger events like a 4 fight show would be great.I have heard once Spike errands to Paramount that there will be more bellator programming and that bellator will be a staple for the channel.
When the UFC was on spike it was different they needed to push the product to the fullest to even make ends meat the time period was different as well as the circumstances.
Viacom owns spike so shoving bellator content in place of shows they are being paid to air has to payoff if they do it.Its not as simple as flood spike with bellator shows it has to make sense....remember fight master lmfao.The ufc was paying to put out all that content not viacom....its different with bellator.They don't have the burden of being the #1 org they don't have to go balls out just to stay afloat.
Viacom wouldn't still own Bellator if they didn't see oppurtunity.Viacom isn't an entity entirely dedicated to one facet like ZUFFA was.They are only putting out money based on the returns hence Coker getting a bit of a boost in spending this last year to help bolster his vision.Bellator doesn't have to overextend itself going apeshit trying to catch the ufc......they can widdle away taking free agents and slowly expanding like they have been.Lets be clear if v iacom ever decided to completely go only after the mma game.......bellator would own the UFC lol.
Once spike becomes paramount we will see how the product evolved further but personally I'm all aboard the Coker war wagon.
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I hate on Bellator, and rag on UFC sometimes too. Both are too much a circus. It is sad, But UFC is the leader and anyone in the UFC isn't a prospect but a contender. All outside are just prospects no matter the promotion. This is why I would agree with Congressman Markwayne Mullin, Circus fights should not interfere with these and let the real contenders fight, even between promotions. Ranking and steroid used and time off, should effect rankings, they called UFC the Don King of MMA taking advantage of fighters, controlling both contenders.
As Bellator is into Kick-boxing (I prefer Muay Thai as 8 limbs more fun to watch). and UFC will get into boxing. The Ali Act will change MMA, all this ragging on Bellator and UFC will fade as fighters become more independent, not tied to the organization. Right now both Bellator and UFC are being Don King and fights are just entertainment not a real ranking system. There is no real system here now. Until these new laws MMA wont be a real sport but more like pro wrestling.
UFC is a bigger world then Bellator with hundreds of fighters, creating a bigger world then Bellator, though being a contender in Bellator is still a small world. So YES I rag on Bellator more than UFC, and will continue to do so.
As Bellator is into Kick-boxing (I prefer Muay Thai as 8 limbs more fun to watch). and UFC will get into boxing. The Ali Act will change MMA, all this ragging on Bellator and UFC will fade as fighters become more independent, not tied to the organization. Right now both Bellator and UFC are being Don King and fights are just entertainment not a real ranking system. There is no real system here now. Until these new laws MMA wont be a real sport but more like pro wrestling.
UFC is a bigger world then Bellator with hundreds of fighters, creating a bigger world then Bellator, though being a contender in Bellator is still a small world. So YES I rag on Bellator more than UFC, and will continue to do so.
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Bjorn era on Spike he was giving shit and there is numbers out there to prove how pathetic Spike was with their contribution to the product. I get it, they didn't like Bjorn's vision and neither did I. But the ratings aren't much off of what Coker does. You can complain about 10 million less homes, mma viewership is down, blah blah. But the numbers are very similar and no way around it Spike/Coker's Bellator cost a shit ton more to run. Yes, they make some of that up in attendance and maybe some expanded TV deals(I don't know what Bellator's tv deals were Bjorn era vs Coker era). Plus on the TV deal side I don't think any of us can say its because of Coker. Coker isn't soliciting TV deals around the globe. Spike has a team that does that and maybe they weren't instructed to do it when Spike and Bjorn were at odds. Spike held back funding of the product so I highly doubt they ran guys around the world to make more media deals in something they weren't happy with.
On the TV shows.............it is a big deal and it has nothing to do with time period. FOX sports has all kind of UFC programming going on across it platforms all the time. It's about what can draw ratings so they can sell advertising. At 2:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday if they could pull similar ratings and advertising dollars to a rerun for the 10 millionth time Hollywood movie(that they pay good money for airing) they put a Bellator replay or some simple Top 10 KO programming on. It would cost them very little as they own the product. I truly believe we don't see this simply because the ratings couldn't out due simple programming like 10 year old Cop reruns(which they own) or another block of Bar Rescue(which they produce and own rights to) that has been replayed a 100 times in the last year. If it would pull ratings they'd replay and do simple Bellator shows(ie: Chandler best matches or what ever). What would be the down fall, all it would do is help get the product out there more.
Your right if Viacom doesn't see Bellator as viable entity they will cut the tie quickly. I've said from the beginning with Spike/Viacom buying Bellator.......be careful what you wish for cause being owned by your media outlet is a two fold problem. Number one, they expect shows they produce to pull in ratings and if it doesn't make sense they have no problem dumping them. Now live sports usually get a longer noose and I think that is what we are seeing with Bellator. Second, the biggest money generating avenue your sport venture has you can't take advantage of and that is the most lucrative TV deal in the world, North America. Which is a killer in the revenue department and is very hard to overcome and continue to grow.
I enjoy Bellator but I think they could do a lot of things much better and I believe Coker isn't the right guy and I don't know who is. I just know Coker runs things from the seat of his pants most of the time and its very unorganized with little vision giving to the future of the product. I think what I'd like to see is Coker in more of Dana/Sean Shelby kind of mix position and have someone or group above him who really deal with the actual business/future vision of the product (ie: how the Ferts where in the UFC)
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why should they stop hatin´? when the UFC is payin´em to do so?...oh wait...
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I never hate on Bellator. They're doing great considering who they're up against. And they've had some bad luck with injuries. They can't afford to have those injuries like the UFC can. This Grand Prix should do good for them. Problem with Bellator is the casuals haven't even heard of them. Kimbo was Bellators best chance to connect with the casuals.
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Number 2 leagues always get shit.
You’re getting a lot of UFC shills who don’t like other orgs with ambition. They would prefer if they dissolved into the UFC or were a willing feeder. Even though the best of times in MMA were when PRIDE and UFC were strong and UFC and Strikeforce/Showtime were strong. Dissolving into the UFC has been followed by boring times if you ask me. Strong alternatives are the key. Bellator is working it’s way up. It didn’t have the cache of talent that Strikeforce had from the fall of EliteXC and Affliction.
Then you get armchair promoters who look at everything from a business standpoint.
UFC shills might take this form because they don’t want to seem like shills, but some of these actually really want Bellator to succeed but look at it the wrong way. Of course, nothing is good enough from that angle and every time a favorite loses it’s the death blow for the organization.
Similar with Strikeforce. All those shills are beating their chest about all the Strikeforce guys that made so much of the “best in the world” extinct.
You’re getting a lot of UFC shills who don’t like other orgs with ambition. They would prefer if they dissolved into the UFC or were a willing feeder. Even though the best of times in MMA were when PRIDE and UFC were strong and UFC and Strikeforce/Showtime were strong. Dissolving into the UFC has been followed by boring times if you ask me. Strong alternatives are the key. Bellator is working it’s way up. It didn’t have the cache of talent that Strikeforce had from the fall of EliteXC and Affliction.
Then you get armchair promoters who look at everything from a business standpoint.
UFC shills might take this form because they don’t want to seem like shills, but some of these actually really want Bellator to succeed but look at it the wrong way. Of course, nothing is good enough from that angle and every time a favorite loses it’s the death blow for the organization.
Similar with Strikeforce. All those shills are beating their chest about all the Strikeforce guys that made so much of the “best in the world” extinct.
I could see how you arrive to some of your conclusions based On mere observation. Bellator has much more international reach under Coker. Even the shit international show of last night drew a decent crowd(im sure there were a lot of comps)
Also, the way people watch content is changing for sure. Sagging tv ratings doesn’t automatically mean loss in viewership outright. Streaming is gaining steam.
One thing I’d like to know though, is how can you flat out say that Bellator is turning in a profit? Do you have access to their financial statements?income statement, balance sheet? Retained earnings?
If so, link?
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The problem isn't the Bellator gp, I will watch it. The problem is the posters acting like this is the most unbelievable tournament which it certainly is not.
