Bellator Roster is Looking Good

[Gambit MMA]

this dazn shit pisses me off but i might have to order it then just cancel when bellator doesnt have a card on that i want

 

[FKA]

I've been thinking about the UFCs switch to ESPN and how they will actually be putting out less events unless u buy the espn+ service.

So perhaps the smaller amount of events may help with casual viewership since cards will be possibly a bit more anticipated.

Bellator definitely needs to do some promotional work for events it would help alot as well as shoulder programming.

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

Thanks man. It was actually put together by a fellow poster over at Global-MMA. We do monthly rankings there as well focusing only on outside UFC fighters. Below are the September rankings:

http://global-mma.forumotion.com/t15138-global-mma-rankings-september-2018

Those LHW rankings are really messed up Chael, even at 41 he can beat the bottom half of that LHW 10, like would anyone favour Mo, Vassell or McGeary over him? #5 Moldavski has he even had a LHW fight? Nikita also should probably be #3 based on compitition alone, but that's moot since he's back in the ufc.
HW too is noticeably missing Crocop who wrecked #6 Amir not long ago, and timothy Johnson could be there to he wrestle fucks some of those 10 and he's not even a contender there.

 

[Feniamin]

The entire Fedor team was signed to bellator when fedor signed.Sidelnikov and the eldest nemkov are only ones yet to debut in bellator.

Yeah, I know but the last time I've seen there were mentions about Sidelnikov and Bellator (at least in Russian mma media) - I think a few fights of Sidelnikov has passed since then (and few years).

 

[Mob69]

Bellator definitely needs to do some promotional work for events it would help alot as well as shoulder programming.

Agree. At the moment you basically just tune in and watch the fights. Unless you already know who the guys are, and what the stakes are, it’s just random violence and very difficult to differentiate one bout from another. This is a problem for the UFC too, of course, but it is far more acute for Bellator. I would like to see a lot more stuff on their YouTube channel, whether 20 minute extended previews of some cards or, say, 3 minute trailers for particular fighters. They need to use YouTube and social media to make people pay attention in advance.

 

[tehMoose]

Bellator > UFC

 

[CDF47]

As someone who has watched the Rebney and Coker eras of Bellator, coker’s Overall roster looks much better than Rebney’s. Of course a solid roster comes with time and more commitment (from Viacom), but the roster really is looking nice from a pure sport standpoint.

They do seem to be signing more and more, so I hope they do well and become a viable company. Takes a ton of investment to create a successful org

Agreed. I hope people are just a little more patient and really tune into Bellator. It is starting to become Strikeforce 2.0.

 

[CDF47]

Bellator has a solid roster. The problem they have is two fold.

1.) Coker: The guy just can't get any momentum going with his rosters. He is very event focused with little thought to long term. Many match ups are just squash match ups or match ups that lead to nothing(just put on for the sake of the event). I believe this makes it hard for many fringe fans to follow or bring in new fans.

2.) Promotion: I know hardcore UFC fans that literally don't even now when most Bellator events are taking place and it was the same with Strikeforce. At some point Viacom/Paramount/Bellator have to spend money on pushing the product in the faces of the general public. Right now it seems like they are taking the build it they will come approach or any advertising I seen is being spent on sites like this(well that fan base probably is already tuning in). A simple name change in channels literally dropped the avg. rating by 200K give or take. I think also moving to DAZN is great financially for Bellator but I think it will further alienate the avg joe MMA fan from tuning in. Which also could have a negative effect on the Paramount ratings for Bellator.

All I know is Bellator has made it through that tricky time period for orgs when they are growing(taking on better fighter contracts) and landed a good paying deal with DAZN. Many orgs fail before they get that payout from hemorrhaging to much money. These next three years will be very interesting to see how this all turns out. At least for the first time in a long time you can honestly say fighters have another viable option to help them leverage their worth and not just for the named guys. I just hope between Viacom/Paramount/Dazn and Coker they can cement the org long term on a big stage. Because I don't know what it will take for these fighters to ever come together and form an associating/union. So with two orgs with some money they'll at least help themselves short term.

I agree. I don't have much to add, you summed it up pretty well.

 

[CDF47]

i feel like this is the problem with even the ufc. there is so much mma, that it takes a special type of fighter to get casuals truly interested. if it were easy to build a star, ufc wouldn't be sucking conor's dick to come back.

to be a super stare, you need the skills, as well as the look and personality. interesting how that works.

Bellator has a couple of fighters who could come out as solid draws for them. i feel like Pico, mvp, and Gallagher are a couple of them. Pico has the skill, but doesn't have the personality IMO. Gallagher leeches off of conor's hype, so he has a leg up. he can be a draw for bellator if he keeps winning, but the problem is that i just don't see him as being skilled enough to win at the elite level. I feel that he will fall flat anytime he stop fighting jobbers and attempts to climb the ranks.

Yeah, the way Gallagher looked in his last fight, not sure how he will do in the future. He definitely has a lot of room for improvement.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

I wonder if CC will at least do that 1 fight for bellator or not.

I am inclined to believe that if Fedor loses to Chael or the Mitrione/Bader winner that Crocop will use his Bellator fight to fight him. He has stated that it is a fight he wants, and I think even if he retires at year's end that Bellator will still try to make that fight, and Crocop will take it. He wants that loss back.

 

[CDF47]

this dazn shit pisses me off but i might have to order it then just cancel when bellator doesnt have a card on that i want

That's what I plan on doing.

 

[CDF47]

Those LHW rankings are really messed up Chael, even at 41 he can beat the bottom half of that LHW 10, like would anyone favour Mo, Vassell or McGeary over him? #5 Moldavski has he even had a LHW fight? Nikita also should probably be #3 based on compitition alone, but that's moot since he's back in the ufc.
HW too is noticeably missing Crocop who wrecked #6 Amir not long ago, and timothy Johnson could be there to he wrestle fucks some of those 10 and he's not even a contender there.

Rankings are not about a fans opinion of I think fighter A can beat fighter B. These rankings are updated every month for the past 6 1/2 years and fighters move up and down the rankings based on the ranking rules listed in the second post of the thread and this is how they turned out. Look up the fighters on Sherdog and Tapalogy to see who they beat and when.

Remember, Cro Cop retired after he beat Amir so he was removed from the rankings. When he returns we'll see how to rank him. He only wants to fight 1 or 2 more times so hard to say where he will go.

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

Rankings are not about a fans opinion of I think fighter A can beat fighter B. These rankings are updated every month for the past 6 1/2 years and fighters move up and down the rankings based on the ranking rules listed in the second post of the thread and this is how they turned out. Look up the fighters on Sherdog and Tapalogy to see who they beat and when.

Remember, Cro Cop retired after he beat Amir so he was removed from the rankings. When he returns we'll see how to rank him. He only wants to fight 1 or 2 more times so hard to say where he will go.

Ok I read your rules which seem pretty opinion based in general. I actually didn't know crocop had ever officially retired so that's fair.
But I still don't get why liam with his 2L streak and 1-3, Vassell 2L streak, Mo 1L and 2-3, are ranked over Chael 2w streak *rankings based on overall career results and recent performance, by both criteria Sonnen shouldn't he be ahead of them?
And why is Moldavski a LHW?

 

[JRY82]

They need a better tv deal , they definitely got fighters that people are interested in watching

 

[DWCoach18]

They have to get Joe Schilling some work. hes need out to long.

 

[Ris]

MMA is the sport for real men.

 

[skylolow]

This was astonishing to me. bellator's ratings were sagging a bit before the rebranding, but they were still avging aroundj 600+ an event. the moment they switched to paramount, they started getting in the 400 range. such a huge misidentification of their target market.

to be fair though, UFC has been getting sagging ratings for their fightnights. last one did 560 iirc, but what im getting at is the fact that ratings for bellator seemed to have jumped of a cliff since the rebranding, as you said, a solid 200k dip.

The dazn deal really helped bellator.

Yeah, it amazing cause my understanding is most cable/satellite service was just a name change and not a complete channel change at least I know that was the case for spectrum/TWC and ATT in my area and I'm almost 100% positive it didn't change for Direct TV also.

I think it honestly just told us SPIKE attracted a lot of back ground noise viewers. Similar to what MTV did for years. As soon as the programming changed they left. It's the only thing that can account for a sudden drop like that and for that drop to stick around.

 

[frandie2b]

Fernando Gonzales and Brennan Ward deserve mentions in the WW section.

It almost rivals UFC's WW roster.

It's arguably even better than the UFC. Make Bellator top 10 vs UFC top 10 and I'd bet on bellator tbh.

It reminds me the strikeforce MW and HW divisions back in 2009-2011.

 

[Mixfight]

Very solid roster.

 

[AimedWithV]

It's arguably even better than the UFC. Make Bellator top 10 vs UFC top 10 and I'd bet on bellator tbh.

It reminds me the strikeforce MW and HW divisions back in 2009-2011.

Not even close.

Rory and Lima are the only top 10 fighters.
Koreshkow top 15.
Others are below - Fitch, Daley...maybe Larkin will be back if not completely shot.