I gave it a 5 out of 10 for the production and timing. Product mistake #1. Backstage interviews. Why did the UFC stop doing backstage interviews? Because it's a waste of time. You are asking a fighter what is going through their mind minutes before a fight, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Wonder what that might be. Instead if distracting the fighters with Shamrock's pretty face and obvious dry questions, why not have commentary from the announcers while the camera watches the fighters warm up or maybe talk to a fighter around the ring instead of someone who is focused on the matter at hand. It lowers the production overall. Product mistake #2. The TIMING! The downtime between the 2nd and 3rd fight was unforgivable. Jimmy Smith was obviously told to kill some time so he has a conversation with the translator for the Russian fighter instead of getting him out of the ring as fast as possible. The timing of the fights needs to be cut by 90% of else the fans get cold and start losing interest is what is going on and become more awake of their surrounds. Product mistake #3. If you are in a certain city, maybe you should give that city a little credit instead of giving credit to another city that's 20 minutes away in another state. Fights were good. The judging was atrocious! My picks before the fights wwent 2 of 5 for the night. I picked Michael Page -knocking out- Ricky Rainey (correct) Michael is talented, but Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson would clean his clock and whoop his ass for not knowing what time it is. Michael Page has a future in Bellator, but his place in the UFC would be permanently in the prelims if it came to that. I had Blagoy Ivanov -submitting- Alexander Volkov (wrong) Cinderella story ended. It was a shame, but the better fighter won. I had Alexander Shlemenko -KTFO- Tito Ortiz (SOOOOO WRONG) I would have lost my shirt betting on that fight. I didn't buy into the Shlemenko hype, I did buy into the Tito choking, my skull is fractured, oh woe is me act. I was feeling bad for Tito's students he brought there to watch him get mauled, but I couldn't have been more wrong and shocked with the outcome seeing how stiff Tito was without any head movement at all. I just hope this doesn't give Tito false confidence like the Bader fight. Tito is on the highest position he will be in MMA, it will not get any better for him and it's time to retire before he gives some undeserving fighters a win over a former superstar. I had Michael Chandler -decision'ing- Will Brooks (wrong) There's no way Brooks won rounds 1, 2, and 5! I haven't looked, but I want to see the judges scorecard for that fight. Brooks did more damage, but Chandler controlled rounds 1 and 2 and almost finished in round 5. There's no way he lost in a sane world with REAL MMA judges. At best for Brooks it was a draw because of a possible 10-8 round in round 3. If you gave Brooks the 10-8, it was a draw, but Brooks didn't win rounds 1, 2, and 5! Tony Weeks and the worst mma judge of all time Sal D'Amato are really proud of fellow horrible boxing judges ruining MMA. I had Quinton Jackson -TKO'ing- Mo Lawal (partially right) I can't stand Mo, but he won that fight. The judges seem to only reward damage, not control. Mo controlled 2 rounds, getting a lot of takedowns and holding Page down for most of the fight. I don't like fights like that, but it doesn't matter if your face is swollen if you controlled most of the fight. If there is a rematch I would like to see Page knock Mo out, but not sure another fight is even worth it. It's clear why Mo was never in the UFC and never will be, but a robbery is still a robbery no matter if it's in favor of someone I like. Bottom line is... Bellator can be much better, but they need to copy the evolution of the UFC's production and stop being something from the late 1990's. No more backstage interviews before the fights, wait until they are over. No more waiting 20 minutes between the middle fights, you have to keep things moving and interesting. Even Pride had a better layout. At least in Pride, there were real fights in the locker rooms (ask Krazy Horse how that worked out for him) instead of the phony hold me back stuff in the ring. When fighters had words and wanted to fight in the ring, it happened... ask Mark Coleman and Phil Baroni how it feels to literally get stomped in the hand by a dozen angry Brazilians. The UFC needs competition, but the only way Bellator can be that is to step it up 200%.
Tito's Hulk Hogan impression combined with Mo's "Dick-ridin' ass" made it an 8/10 for me. Hell, Frank's bizarre interviews alone were worth the price of admission.
Marcin Held armbar was awesome and convinced me to buy. Kongo was fun. Michael Page's Anderson impression was worth the price of admission. Volkov was fun. Tito's sub was smooth. So the guy was small, Tito is 39 and everyone in the room thought he was gona lose, especially after eating two clean leg kicks. Hulk Hogan!? Chandler Brooks was meh. The judges were the stars of the Rampage King Mo fight for finally awarding 1 punch > 2 takedowns and 4:55 of control. The way it should be. Overall 9/10
Your solution is to suggest that Bellator copies what the UFC does? That will not help them at all. That will make them even more of a second rate promotion. Bellator should do all the things the UFC doesn't do to make them stand out. Otherwise, people may as well just watch the UFC.
