What else can Bellator do to compete?

ZafroTexas

ZafroTexas

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It seems like their strategy is to sign UFC washouts and have their grassroots fighters beat them to increase their popularity. While this is a good strategy it can backfire ie Phil Davis. I think Bellator really wanted to give McGeary the big push but he got completely thrashed.

I think Viacom should open those checkbooks and go ahead and buy the hemorrhaging WSOF, before they lose all their fighters to the UFC and go bankrupt. Jake Sheilds, Justin Gaethje, Lance Palmer, and Marlon Morles would bolster their roster greatly. The argument against I guess is why pay so much for four established fighters?

Pros- bolster roster, years of marketing for each fighter gets absorbed by Bellator, new markets, potential of other fighters could be exceptional
Cons- large investment for possible small ROI

I also think they should change their name to just BFC and really embrace the freakshow aspect of mma. Why the fuck is Bobby Lashley so inactive? Their sitting on a gold mine with him and their afraid to pull the trigger with him because what? Other organizations will look down on them or see them as illegitimate? I say fuck it give him the title shot or Fedor while you have him, seems like a missed opportunity given that he's already 40.

I'm running out of time I'll come back to this but what else could they really do. I think there's room in the mma market for two competitive organizations. What say you?
 
Also why not have only grappling matches, they already have kickboxing can you imagine a champ that was the grappling, kickboxing, and mma champion. Would be badass id only make like 3 weightclassss for grappling and kickboxing though don't wanna water those down.

Or how about a grudge match between untrained fans to create some human interest. Two people call each other out you get some back story then there are trained by a pro fighter and fight in a cage. Could make their training a show on Spike then have the fight on the prelims.
 
They need to scoop up all of these ridiculous cuts by the UFC before ACB gets them lol
 
Feel like they are doing alright to be honest. They have become much more viable these past couple of years. They have held bigger and bigger shoes. They are signing ranked fighters. They are giving hard international pushes. Don't know what their budget looks like, but they could use a bigger one.
 
They have to sign stars. Plain and simple. That's why you see them going after most ex UFC fighters. Names are worth more to Bellator than any amount of advertising dollars they could spend at this time.

Not that I really want to get into the pro wrestling world but its a good example. WWE is and was light years ahead of any other wrestling promotion similar to the UFC with MMA. No org could compete with them on any level. So how did the WCW compete for about 5 years?? The signed every star they could get there hands on both past and present and packaged them together in good story lines. Yes, they over paid many times but it had to be done to compete on the big stage. Very quickly they where going toe to toe with the WWE in ratings and PPV buys. In fact beating them many weeks and months and really started hurting the WWE's wealth they built up. Could've been sustain if they knew when to stop blowing money left and right. But they didn't and it eventually failed with sale of there parent company and was sold to WWE.

If we are really hoping they "compete" with the UFC that is what needs to be done. Probably will never happen so what we'll see is Bellator kind of sit at about where there at with little growth here and there with some fails mixed in. Eventually it will run its course with Spike/Viacom and they'll get out of owning a MMA org business. I honestly don't see them around 10 years from now and I'd put the over under at 5 years. I could be wrong, but we'll see. Spike has spent a lot of money in the last year securing talent and its time now they see some return. So far the ratings haven't shown much. Increased attendance so that's a good thing. Seem to be a player in the free agency market, that is good. We'll see if they can ever put it all together.
 
no need to buy WSOF, might as well put money in a pile and burn it, WSOF will either fold on its own or to survive it will shed all the big contracts so you can cherry pick who you want

they need more tentpoles and should alternate between tentpoles and non-tentpoles since ratings are better for non-tentpoles after a tentpole. they need more big name talent if they are going to add more tentpoles though so obviously they'll have to sign a few more guys and spend more money

they should bring back the tournament format in a challengers series type show, like strikeforce had challengers, use unknown fighters and build them up as contenders on these shows in tournaments. you'll always have someone waiting in the wings for titleshot and you'll appease fans of the old tournaments

spend more on marketing and market smarter. free daily fantasy games on all events for merchandise like hats and signed memorabilia, other stuff like that.
 
They need to stop having disastrous main events, and push the younger guys. Embracing "b-league"' status with unknowns putting on entertaining fights is how you take attention away from the UFC.

The MMA scene is having a changing of the guard right now and it's the perfect time for guys like MVP to rise. Just like Silva and GSP after Chuck and Randy, and McGregor and Ronda after GSP and Silva.
 
they need to focus more on the athletes and competition. the cartoonish stuff needs to end. WEC was a great example. sure it got absorbed into the UFC but it was an awesome legitimate org while it lasted and people took it seriously.
 
They need to get their signings to actually fight.....

How long did it take with Rory?
 
They arent signing washed up UFC fighters to build up their home grown fighters... they are bringing them over to headline and star. Some of the guys they are putting them in there with scrubs and trying to build them up... like they did with Thomson and Koscheck and others.
 
I keep reading that Bellator should sign stars; I don't think that would fit Bellator a current model.

Present day Bellator needs names sure, but I don't know what they can do with a legit star. A business needs a model that is sustainable. Imagine Bellator picking up a really well known fighter who isn't quite a ppv fighter yet? said fighter would beat a couple of guys in Bellator, then bounce back to the UFC with much more stock. Bellator can't get into serious bidding wars. Seems like they just don't have the budget for it.

Now I'm fully aware that the UFC isn't trying to sign anyone, but that won't be the case in the future.

Coker is actually being smart with the guys they sign. People like kimbo(rip) gave Bellator a giant boost in ratings, and Bellator wouldn't have to seriously compete with anyone for him. Same with tito.


Signing people like Davis, bader, Larkin(if they get the last two) would be smart business imo. They aren't giant names, but probably have local fan bases. Coker brings them home and sees a solid increase in the gate. Heck, even a slight increase in ratings. Some fighters are gate fighters, others are ratings fighters.

Signings like Thomson and kos may also be strategic imo. Coker likes his roots deep in California. I feel that Coker signs fighters like them to not only squeeze a couple fights out of them, but to also secure some of the rising talent coming out of their camps. Fialho and piccolotti train out of aka iirc. Honeycutt trains with kos iirc.


On tv ratings. One thing that people must note is that Coker is holding international events. Something that bjorn never really did. This is important because all the lower performing cards have been international cards. Ratings sag a bit because of that. There might be net gain from those cards, but USA spike is suffering due to them being on serious tape delay and Bellator probably not advertising international events at all in the states.


Lastly, I hate to say it, but Bellator needs to get in the ppv business if they are really trying to compete. Even if it's 1 or 2 ppv a year. They need to be able to sell that to retain any legit stars they hope to acquire or build. You can't compete with a ppv business if you aren't in ppv yourself. With that in mind, Viacom will need to eat a ton of costs before they see return.
 
They need to stop having disastrous main events, and push the younger guys. Embracing "b-league"' status with unknowns putting on entertaining fights is how you take attention away from the UFC.

The MMA scene is having a changing of the guard right now and it's the perfect time for guys like MVP to rise. Just like Silva and GSP after Chuck and Randy, and McGregor and Ronda after GSP and Silva.
Click to expand...
Just curious, who do you think the next two on that list wil be ??
 
Not amateur WMMA on Main Cards, less squash matches and more good matchmaking
 
skylolow said:
They have to sign stars. Plain and simple. That's why you see them going after most ex UFC fighters. Names are worth more to Bellator than any amount of advertising dollars they could spend at this time.

Not that I really want to get into the pro wrestling world but its a good example. WWE is and was light years ahead of any other wrestling promotion similar to the UFC with MMA. No org could compete with them on any level. So how did the WCW compete for about 5 years?? The signed every star they could get there hands on both past and present and packaged them together in good story lines. Yes, they over paid many times but it had to be done to compete on the big stage. Very quickly they where going toe to toe with the WWE in ratings and PPV buys. In fact beating them many weeks and months and really started hurting the WWE's wealth they built up. Could've been sustain if they knew when to stop blowing money left and right. But they didn't and it eventually failed with sale of there parent company and was sold to WWE.

If we are really hoping they "compete" with the UFC that is what needs to be done. Probably will never happen so what we'll see is Bellator kind of sit at about where there at with little growth here and there with some fails mixed in. Eventually it will run its course with Spike/Viacom and they'll get out of owning a MMA org business. I honestly don't see them around 10 years from now and I'd put the over under at 5 years. I could be wrong, but we'll see. Spike has spent a lot of money in the last year securing talent and its time now they see some return. So far the ratings haven't shown much. Increased attendance so that's a good thing. Seem to be a player in the free agency market, that is good. We'll see if they can ever put it all together.
Click to expand...

I completely agree, in fact numbers showed that with Kimbo Slice (RIP) fights
They need to sign huge stars from other sports, no matter if it ended on a freakshow, people will watch.
At some point if they have success, I have no doubt he would make some offers for the Rondas and Conors types
 
They need a HW belt, and keep their stars a little more active.

They have improved their roster a lot. WW is stacked.
 
Bellator definiately needs a HW belt. Kongo, Lashley, Mitrione, and Fedor are some of the biggest stars they have... get a belt around one of them.
 
Muay Thai #1 said:
I literally was about to say the same exact thing. TS has no idea what he is talking about
Click to expand...
AGEZ909 said:
I keep reading that Bellator should sign stars; I don't think that would fit Bellator a current model.

Present day Bellator needs names sure, but I don't know what they can do with a legit star. A business needs a model that is sustainable. Imagine Bellator picking up a really well known fighter who isn't quite a ppv fighter yet? said fighter would beat a couple of guys in Bellator, then bounce back to the UFC with much more stock. Bellator can't get into serious bidding wars. Seems like they just don't have the budget for it.

Now I'm fully aware that the UFC isn't trying to sign anyone, but that won't be the case in the future.

Coker is actually being smart with the guys they sign. People like kimbo(rip) gave Bellator a giant boost in ratings, and Bellator wouldn't have to seriously compete with anyone for him. Same with tito.


Signing people like Davis, bader, Larkin(if they get the last two) would be smart business imo. They aren't giant names, but probably have local fan bases. Coker brings them home and sees a solid increase in the gate. Heck, even a slight increase in ratings. Some fighters are gate fighters, others are ratings fighters.

Signings like Thomson and kos may also be strategic imo. Coker likes his roots deep in California. I feel that Coker signs fighters like them to not only squeeze a couple fights out of them, but to also secure some of the rising talent coming out of their camps. Fialho and piccolotti train out of aka iirc. Honeycutt trains with kos iirc.


On tv ratings. One thing that people must note is that Coker is holding international events. Something that bjorn never really did. This is important because all the lower performing cards have been international cards. Ratings sag a bit because of that. There might be net gain from those cards, but USA spike is suffering due to them being on serious tape delay and Bellator probably not advertising international events at all in the states.


Lastly, I hate to say it, but Bellator needs to get in the ppv business if they are really trying to compete. Even if it's 1 or 2 ppv a year. They need to be able to sell that to retain any legit stars they hope to acquire or build. You can't compete with a ppv business if you aren't in ppv yourself. With that in mind, Viacom will need to eat a ton of costs before they see return.
Click to expand...
This is there goal I have a friend that works for Spike the Gracie Shamrock Kimbo Dada fight was supposed to be ppv but they backed out for some reason. Good thing they did though.
 
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