News Bellator is dead; PFL drops points season format

[TorontoTO]

 

[STAY GOLD]

Sucks Bellator is done, but cool they're moving away from the season format as the GP format is much better. I just hope they bring in more divisions and offer the Bellator fighters fights.

 

[Xuh]

 

[Lionheart7167]

Honestly, it's a bummer. I know Bellator's been dying a long, slow death, but it's been the number two or three promotion (at least in America) for almost a decade, and is responsible for some classic fights, and fighters, several of which have gone on to become UFC champions.
With ONE seemingly drying up, and Rizin never able to establish continuity, it's just the UFC and PFL moving forward, and PFL just sucks.
And no, the GFL, will never gain traction.

 

[Meathead Jock]

The big January 25th event in Dubai still happening?

 

[STAY GOLD]

The big January 25th event in Dubai still happening?

Yes. It won't be a Bellator event. It will be a PFL Champions Series event.

 

[wwkirk]

I'll never get over how a third tier MMA org swallowed, digested, and pooped out a second tier MMA org.

 

[IndyCovaHart]

I didn’t even know it still existed

 

[EndlessCritic]

Bjorn era Bellator was incredible. Take eight relatively unknown, but highly skilled fighters, and let them fight it out.

The only thing I can really say negative was the non-title fights. Also, Emanuel Newton was somehow the most unlikable champion of all time, despite giving us one of the best KO's in history against Mo.

So many great memories of great fights. Curran's epic comeback against Straus. Pitbull's wild comeback against Weichel. Frodo going to absolute war against Richman. Warren's robbery against Galvao.

 

[snugglecakes]

they shoulda dropped the PFL name and just called the whole thing bellator. More casuals probably recognize the bellator name than PFL considering bellator was probably the longest lasting non UFC org till it died. Pride didnt last a decade. Strikeforce was just a handful of years. Elite Pro X n whatever lasted a flash in the pan. Bellator was 1 of the few to even last double digit years. the PFL naming only existed since 5 minutes ago.

...but then again bellator has always been the absolute fuckin dog shittiest trash name of any org I've ever seen

 

[BFoe]

RIP Bellator.

I’m happy to see PFL’s season format die, I wasn’t a fan of that at all. Hopefully we can at least start seeing more Bellator fighters get fights.

 

[wwkirk]

they shoulda dropped the PFL name and just called the whole thing bellator. More casuals probably recognize the bellator name than PFL considering bellator was probably the longest lasting non UFC org till it died. Pride didnt last a decade. Strikeforce was just a handful of years. Elite Pro X n whatever lasted a flash in the pan. Bellator was 1 of the few to even last double digit years. the PFL naming only existed since 5 minutes ago.

...but then again bellator has always been the absolute fuckin dog shittiest trash name of any org I've ever seen

Yeah weird name. But you're right, they should have stuck with the Bellator label and just dropped PFL. Bellator had tournaments too. The most unique thing about PFL was the million dollar prize. But now they've dropped that.

 

[TITS]

These assholes could have at least done the last 3 Bellator events in 2024 instead of cancelling them, and instead of throwing bags of money No Draw Ngannou, and shelving all their top fighters.

 

[mixmastermo]

All I know is that Scott Coker is not responsible for the downfall of Bellator or Strikeforce. It was all everyone else's fault.

 

[TITS]

Yes. It won't be a Bellator event. It will be a PFL Champions Series event.

Bellator Champions Series Dubai: Nurmagomedov vs. Hughes Live Fight Coverage - ESPN

Get the live coverage of Bellator Champions Series Dubai: Nurmagomedov vs. Hughes from Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai on January 25, 2025 on ESPN, including the main card and prelims.

www.espn.com

 

[David Street]

He must be so proud.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

Really bittersweet to see Bellator go. Can't say I was too interested in PFL's iteration of the product. I'd imagine they're doing champions vs tournament winners for the PFL titles this year.

Hopefully their matchmaking and event consistency is up to par as they actually have a very good combined roster. Even their heavyweight division is stacked as fuck.

 

[TheBrownRanger]

Yeah weird name. But you're right, they should have stuck with the Bellator label and just dropped PFL. Bellator had tournaments too. The most unique thing about PFL was the million dollar prize. But now they've dropped that.

I disagree. The point was to make the PFL product bigger rather than build on someone else's idea. Sure, Bellator was the bigger name and I was a much bigger Bellator fan than a PFL guy. But they weren't gonna go anywhere on Bjorn Rebney's idea, let's be honest. PFL wants you to know they BEAT Bellator. The losers don't get to write history.

Also, fans have and always will care more about matchmaking and stories rather than how much the fighters are getting paid. No matter what virtue signaling BS people on this forum feed you.

 

[CC27]

now they just need to deal with the 15 different PFL names. Super fight series, road to dubai, Mena, Africa, Europe, tournaments etc.

Will be interesting to see who does the tournaments now, how many events they do, what does reg standard cards/matchmaking look like.

is it gonna be more prospects/newer signings, maybe guys who arent close to a title doing it or are Bellator champs etc gonna be in them? Will Bellator champs become PFL champs and then tournament winners become number 1 contenders? Will they do Bellator champ vs last seasons tournament champs to crown PFL champs? They could make that a card over in Saudi. BW/MW maybe they just crown Mix/Eblen as champs. But then what does Francis do? WOuld he just be PPV guy who fights once more and instead they do Bader vs Goltsov for title etc?

 

[TheBrownRanger]

now they just need to deal with the 15 different PFL names. Super fight series, road to dubai, Mena, Africa, Europe, tournaments etc.

Will be interesting to see who does the tournaments now, how many events they do, what does reg standard cards/matchmaking look like.

is it gonna be more prospects/newer signings, maybe guys who arent close to a title doing it or are Bellator champs etc gonna be in them? Will Bellator champs become PFL champs and then tournament winners become number 1 contenders? Will they do Bellator champ vs last seasons tournament champs to crown PFL champs? They could make that a card over in Saudi. BW/MW maybe they just crown Mix/Eblen as champs. But then what does Francis do? WOuld he just be PPV guy who fights once more and instead they do Bader vs Goltsov for title etc?

The easiest route is just current champions vs 2024 tournament winners. No reason to do anything besides that unless there's more compelling match-ups. Kuramagomedov vs Musaev or Larkin, Anderson vs Yagshimuradov II, Nurmagomedov/Hughes vs Rabadanov, etc. All interesting fights they can do in Abu Dhabi.

They'll probably do Johnny Eblen vs Aaron Jeffrey for the Middleweight title. Mix vs Higo gets booked again. Not even that many contenders in both of those divisions right now.

Ngannou will probably stick to being a special attraction type. He has the Super Fights title while Bader and Goltsov go at it for the PFL title. Unification later this year. At least that's how I look at it.