If you were running Bellator: What would you do differently?

[RODNEY83]

Advertise upcoming fight cards more on CBS, BET, MTV, VH1 and other Viacom properties. Have prelims on BET, MTV, or on other Viacom properties to introduce the Bellator product to new audiences and to give those networks the live programming it may need. Make MVP vs Paul Daley in England. Have Vitaly Minakov vs Ryan Bader matchup. Bring back Bobby Lashley to fight a legitimate Bellator Heavyweight, which he called Scott Coker out for not doing. Make Cris Cyborg vs Arlene Blencowe matchup. Stop the stupid Coker too long drawn out tournaments. If hosting a tournament, make a tournament fight card for each round of the tournament. That way the fighters are all on the sane schedule. Have a more Bellator flavor mic team. Better matchmaking overall less squash matches.

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

Advertise upcoming fight cards more on CBS, BET, MTV, VH1 and other Viacom properties. Have prelims on BET, MTV, or on other Viacom properties to introduce the Bellator product to new audiences and to give those networks the live programming it may need. Make MVP vs Paul Daley in England. Have Vitaly Minakov vs Ryan Bader matchup. Bring back Bobby Lashley to fight a legitimate Bellator Heavyweight, which he called Scott Coker out for not doing. Make Cris Cyborg vs Arlene Blencowe matchup. Stop the stupid Coker too long drawn out tournaments. If hosting a tournament, make a tournament fight card for each round of the tournament. That way the fighters are all on the sane schedule. Have a more Bellator flavor mic team. Better matchmaking overall less squash matches.

Right here is some good shit

 

[DoctorTaco]

Honestly.....Make the Matchmakers actually work or get rid of them! UFC Matchmakers pair the right guys up to fight to make it exciting.
You don't do Paul Daily vs Fitch! That Match Maker should be fired! Have a talent scout who knows fighting and what to look for. Coker needs to fire his friends and bring in real talent. The commentators are just plane armature!

Also, fucking Advertise! Coker does 0 hype. He does not understand hyping a match, he thinks coming over from the UFC is hype enough....Just really Amateurish all around..........Look at LFA! They have a shit budget but man they are good at matchmaking and hype!

Proud of you Trent. This was a well thought out post and you wrote a lot of words without mentioning you know how. Keep it up my dude

Right now Bellator has a fire 170 division, they have at least 15 very legit fighters and about 3 making a title-run. The division has enough talent to split it in two: 165 and 175.
Keep Douglas Lima as the 175 champ and have a 4-man tournament to crown the new 165 champion, for example, Amasov, Koreshkov, MVP, and Storley. The 165 division is long overdue and it would attract a lot of fighters who are caught in between 155 and 170. That 15 pound difference causes a lot of problems for fighters cutting weight and many fighters have campaigned for the addition of a 165 division, this could be the right time. The division is strong enough that neither weightclass will be watered down.

being the only division in the game to offer 165/175 would mean a huge leg up in talent acquisition

 

[careto]

Proud of you Trent. This was a well thought out post and you wrote a lot of words without mentioning you know how. Keep it up my dude
being the only division in the game to offer 165/175 would mean a huge leg up in talent acquisition

I have always been surprised that no big organization offers the 2 weight classes. UFC and Bellator have STACKED 170 divisions and it has to do with the fact that there is a lot of talent that move in between weight classes because of the big gap betwen 155 and 170. I think Vanderford would thrive in a 175 division, btw.

 

[DoctorTaco]

I have always been surprised that no big organization offers the 2 weight classes. UFC and Bellator have STACKED 170 divisions and it has to do with the fact that there is a lot of talent that move in between weight classes because of the big gap betwen 155 and 170. I think Vanderford would thrive in a 175 division, btw.

i was thinking the same thing, but then again that dude is looking more
And more like a proper 185er these days. His cardio is amazing but he’s really been putting some muscle on.

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

Proud of you Trent. This was a well thought out post and you wrote a lot of words without mentioning you know how. Keep it up my dude
being the only division in the game to offer 165/175 would mean a huge leg up in talent acquisition

Brave FC has both a 165 and 175 division

 

[careto]

Brave FC has both a 165 and 175 division

So does KOTC and other smaller promotions but I wouldnt consider them major promotions though. None of the major MMA promotions have a 165 weight class, though. And I do believe adding the weight class would give that promotion an advantage in talent acquisition by giving more weight classes to compete in.

 

[careto]

i was thinking the same thing, but then again that dude is looking more
And more like a proper 185er these days. His cardio is amazing but he’s really been putting some muscle on.

He has a tough match against Madrid, but that should be the beginning of a title run, hopefully.

 

[Masturbin]

Let them juice,agressively hunt the ufc reject and change the ppv model, bring back stomps and knee to a down opponent

 

[Finding Deebo]

How many casuals do you think even know Bellator exists???

This is the question that needs to be asked, and this is what Bellator needs to be focusing on.

 

[Tokoloko]

Stop signing rejects for huge money and invest into future.

Search some future stars - for example, make One-Night tournaments (weightclasses 60,70,80,90,100,100+ KG) 1x on every continent .... winners will meet in "super-tournament"

 

[RODNEY83]

Right here is some good shit

And no more of Scott Coker stupidity is one more thing to add. Remember Alessio Sakara coming to Bellator and being a big draw in Italy for Bellator and being 2-0 in Bellator at Light Heavyweight? And inexplicably, Scott Coker and crew, somehow thought, a man, who had never fought at Middleweight in Bellator was worthy of getting a Bellator Middleweight title shot against Raphael Carvalho, when John Salter was the clear number one contender for a Bellator Middleweight Title shot. It's those types of stupid decisions that Bellator needs to save itself from allowing Scott Coker to pull off.

 

[SakuWandyCop]

How I would run Bellator:
• Bring back seasonal tournaments (24 events)

• Opening Season (January-June) [12]
• Closing Season (July-December) [12]​

• While seasonal tournaments goes into play, Bellator champs would stay active by having "super fights" or non-title fights rather than waiting for the tournament winner for a title defense.

• Get rid of nonsense matchmakers

• Bring back Jimmy Smith.

• Advertise the events on Viacom-owned channels

 

[Yrat]

Sign talents and not someone with 2-4 on his record, no fighters over +40 years old.

 

[rmorris003]

I want them to come back to Canada, specifically Ontario region because right now I goto the events at Mohegan Sun.

 

[InfinityLens]

We all know what made Bellator great; FREAKSHOWS! The Coker got scared off of after Kimbo v DD5K.

 

[trentkelp]

More Tyrell Fortune!

 

[HELLHAMMER842]

More freakshow fights. Coker has always brought in the most views with those . Majority of people view Bellator as playing 2nd fiddle to the UFC as far as their roster of fighters go.

 

[maximus__]

Right now Bellator has a fire 170 division, they have at least 15 very legit fighters and about 3 making a title-run. The division has enough talent to split it in two: 165 and 175.
Keep Douglas Lima as the 175 champ and have a 4-man tournament to crown the new 165 champion, for example, Amasov, Koreshkov, MVP, and Storley. The 165 division is long overdue and it would attract a lot of fighters who are caught in between 155 and 170. That 15 pound difference causes a lot of problems for fighters cutting weight and many fighters have campaigned for the addition of a 165 division, this could be the right time. The division is strong enough that neither weightclass will be watered down.

This is a great idea. I also miss the tournaments. I think that was what made Bellator special.

I like the mix of established fighters and up and coming prospects getting the chance to fight each other without either necessarily getting fed to the other.

I enjoy the prelims being filled with lower level guys, but sometimes they are too low level.
People like MVP need to be forced to fight higher level fighters or moved on. If he won't step up just cut him.

They need to focus on building there own guys and less on ex ufc fighters outside of tournament format.

 

[Zach The Maniac]

I would hire bjorn rebney back