Time for Scott Coker to lay some pipe...

[Slongkong]

pretty sure they had some really good wrestling kid at the last show. He's expected to make the jump in 2016.

 

[Paul L]

more collegiate wrestling prospects like Chris Honeycutt. Once guys like that have picked up 3 or 4 wins on small shows, sign them and have them develop under the Bellator banner.

This right here. If people talk about all these guys in the NBA and NFL being MMA "super athletes", they are neglecting the guys who are basically engineered to transition to MMA from the moment they step on the mat.

Gregor Gillespie, Jamal Parks, Wade Sauer, Scott Steele, Kyle Cerminara, Ryan Patrovich, TJ Hepburn, and international standouts Mark Madsen and Arjan Bhullar would all be good adds of exceptional athletes.

 

[ThunderL1ps]

A name change is probably inevitable.

Josh Gross was at the event last week and noted that he heard rumors about the promotion being changed to Spike MMA and I believe Jimmy Smith and Joe Rogan briefly talked about an impending name change when they did a Fight Companion JRE together over the summer.

Get rid of the cage too. So sick of seeing fights that look like they are taking place in some Puerto Rican's junk yard.

Offer a different presentation than the UFC, not just terms of the fighting surface. Give a back story about the fighters; their camps; etc.. Storylines that don't involve bringing in jabroni's with hoods.

 

[ThunderL1ps]

This right here. If people talk about all these guys in the NBA and NFL being MMA "super athletes", they are neglecting the guys who are basically engineered to transition to MMA from the moment they step on the mat.

Gregor Gillespie, Jamal Parks, Wade Sauer, Scott Steele, Kyle Cerminara, Ryan Patrovich, TJ Hepburn, and international standouts Mark Madsen and Arjan Bhullar would all be good adds of exceptional athletes.

It all sounds so wonderful, until you see them fight and they are pretty guys up against the fence for 3 rounds.

Other martial artists need to be targeted. Don't limit things to abortion eared wrestlers.

 

[Meathead Jock]

pretty sure they had some really good wrestling kid at the last show. He's expected to make the jump in 2016.

As in they were recruiting one or one was on the prelims?

 

[Slongkong]

As in they were recruiting one or one was on the prelims?

he was sitting in the crowd with some of the staff

 

[Slongkong]

it was Aaron Picco

 

[Dark God]

your title misled me into this thread like a moth to a flame or a child to a van with candy.

LOL that makes two of us.

 

[CoffeeAndBeer]

your title misled me into this thread like a moth to a flame or a child to a van with candy.

LOL that makes two of us.

Ha, it work.

But don't you know you can hover over the title and read some of the post?

 

[HaulParris]

I agree that Coker needs to overhaul Spiketor if they want to be successful. I don't know whether co-promotion can work; long-term development deals also may not offer the quick solution that Viacom wants in order to dominate the ratings - in short, there may not be an easy fix. I will say that running weekly cards with Josh Neer in the main event (no disrespect) is not a strategy for improvement.

 

[Meathead Jock]

it was Aaron Picco

That would be insane. Kid has all the makings of being thee top prospect out there. Although he has said he doesn't plan to join MMA until 2020 (he will be 23 years old then), as he plans to make 2 olympic wrestling runs first. But yea, developing some in-roads with him early can't hurt.

 

[BeardotheWeirdo]

Viacom is pulling back on the money they are giving them it seems. So none of this is really likely, I mean if your a prospect you'd be pretty foolish to go to Bellator over UFC.

Co-Promotion helped cause the downfall of Strikeforce. Should they co-promote with M-1 and fall apart again? Or go with KSW whose probably doing fine solo and won't lend anyone of note without breaking the bank.

They just need to be good talent evaluators and get guys when they are fresh and young and build them up.

Co-promotion got them the CBS deal, which Mayhem and Cesar Gracie Crew lost for them. Co-promotion also helped build them when they co-promoted with Elite XC. And co-promoting with M-1 didn't kill Strikeforce, and that was far from your average co-promotion. Btw, fighter-sharing is a form of co-promotion as well.

 

[CoffeeAndBeer]

http://forums.sherdog.com/forums/f61/scott-coker-says-changes-coming-bellator-2015-a-2848865/

 

[CoffeeAndBeer]

At 52:00...

Joe Rogan talking about Bellator:

- "This is what you do, you poach. What Bellator needs to do is use some of that Viacom money and take advantage of this Reebox thing... this Reebox thing has a lot of fighters that are going to lose a lot of money...

It's opening up the door for Bellator... All you need is a few of those guys jumping ship.

...

They need to bail on the that name... It should be Spike MMA."

 

[Frank23]

Bellator needs to try and sign Jungle Fight champion Jonas Bilharinho again.

[YT]kVafujk-nZ4[/YT]

 

[InfinityLens]

At 52:00...

Joe Rogan talking about Bellator:

- "This is what you do, you poach. What Bellator needs to do is use some of that Viacom money and take advantage of this Reebox thing... this Reebox thing has a lot of fighters that are going to lose a lot of money...

It's opening up the door for Bellator... All you need is a few of those guys jumping ship.

...

They need to bail on the that name... It should be Spike MMA."

Wow when even one of the most known people in your promotion are bashing the Reebok thing.

 

[method115]

the thing he needs to do it looks like he's doing which is changing the contracts. He said he looked at the contracts and they were crazy, way too confusing.

Thats what needs to be done if you want to get the top prospects and other guys who maybe get cut from the UFC but want back in.

if you are gonna trap them with 10 extensions and a 4 fight deal can go on for 15 fights by winning tournaments and titles thats gonna make some fighters/prospects say fuck this I'll wait for the UFC and fight in RFA for now.

So fix that and I think you will see them start to compete with the UFC for the top prospects cause right now UFC is owning that about 90/10.

Then pay good money, with less events that means less tv spots but better ratings and more advertising money could lead to more money for big free agent signings.

Couldn't agree more I've been saying this for a while now. Bellator needs to stop the "competing with UFC" crap and understand they are B league right now. Almost every single fighter in the world wants to be in the UFC and pretending they don't is just silly. There confusing/restraining contracts are going to make fighters go with other promotions like WSOF which clearly has no problem working with the UFC.

 

[Philo-Publius]

Couldn't agree more I've been saying this for a while now. Bellator needs to stop the "competing with UFC" crap and understand they are B league right now. Almost every single fighter in the world wants to be in the UFC and pretending they don't is just silly. There confusing/restraining contracts are going to make fighters go with other promotions like WSOF which clearly has no problem working with the UFC.

WSOF is not as entertaining and does not have as good a talent pool. You have to draw some names in order to draw ratings. I like the steady climb Coker is making.

 

[TMAN29]

Some good ideas. Just very hard to put into play and is costly.... I can tell you that bellator already has contacts with managers and mma gyms. Also they should change the name to something like Spike MMA.

 

[method115]

WSOF is not as entertaining and does not have as good a talent pool. You have to draw some names in order to draw ratings. I like the steady climb Coker is making.

I'm not taking about which promotion is better. I'm talking from a fighter pov. Either way I could have sworn the ratings have been the same. Except for the one off events like this.