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Nah but it's a good year for them while the UFC is struggling with many other issues. I am actually excited for Gegard vs Rory. Chael vs Fedor.
Is Bellator on the rise?
- Thread starter CrimsonFan
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from a COMPETITIVE standpoint, bellator is catching up and catching up fast
the legitimacy of their welterweight and lightweight titles cannot be doubted. I have no question that Michael Chandler for example could be UFC champ easily if he signed with that promotion. Same with Rory and Gegard. That's a BIG DEAL. Guys like FrankieNYC love to shit on Bellator because they're in the red. Well guess what DUMMY, when you're trying to grow a business in a sector that is on the cusp of a complete monopoly, you have to be taking big risks to get big rewards. Will Bellator catch up financially to UFC any time soon? Probably not. but Viacom clearly is committed to making Bellator happen and Coker has been making some VERY good moves in terms of acquiring talent.
the legitimacy of their welterweight and lightweight titles cannot be doubted. I have no question that Michael Chandler for example could be UFC champ easily if he signed with that promotion. Same with Rory and Gegard. That's a BIG DEAL. Guys like FrankieNYC love to shit on Bellator because they're in the red. Well guess what DUMMY, when you're trying to grow a business in a sector that is on the cusp of a complete monopoly, you have to be taking big risks to get big rewards. Will Bellator catch up financially to UFC any time soon? Probably not. but Viacom clearly is committed to making Bellator happen and Coker has been making some VERY good moves in terms of acquiring talent.
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Im hoping Bellator can get that Strikeforce feeling to it in the near future. Id like to see them stack their cards a little better and keep the up and comers on seperate cards. Kind of like the Challenger series SF had.
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What about the fact that their ratings have been dwindling? The risks have clearly not been paying off like they hoped they would.
This DAZN deal will either make them or break them, we shall see.
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their ratings have been dwindling, but so have the UFC's. TV is dying fast. MMA is a sport of stars, not a sport of brands. That's what people don't understand. All it takes is one breakthrough for Bellator and they close the distance EXTREMELY quickly. MVP COULD be that guy. Aaron Pico COULD be that guy. they may be, or they may not be. We don't know. But all it takes is one star.
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Strikeforce cards imho were pretty much as good as UFC Cards... not because their talent pool was better per se but because they had less cards and didn't dilute what they did offer. I hope Bellator follows that....
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I think your reaching a little here.
Your 100% right on the financial side. It isn't even in the same spectrum. UFC probably makes more than Bellator in revenue in 2 weeks averaged out than Bellator all year according to Moody's latest UFC report. That isn't changing anytime quickly or ever is a pretty safe bet.
I won't say Viacom is committed. They didn't sell what is essentially there own Media rights and they are a media company because Bellator is rolling and growing. They did it because after 4 years they realized they can't make enough ROI or any off the product being on Spike/Paramount. Right place, right time with DAZN coming in and more or less probably overpaying for the product to try to grow its platform. Personally, I'm not sure how well DAZN will work in the US. In other foreign markets they do ok because they are able to get streaming deals of some of the major US sports. In the USA those are all spoken for and the people that bid on those will squash DAZN. All they can do is acquire very niche sports(things like cricket and shit) and hope enough subscribers sign up to spread the wealth around on these deals to make it all work. In the US market the consumer is use to getting a lot for these subscription based companies like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. European market and many other markets have been use to paying a monthly fee for a select package of sports for example. That is big hurdle in the America market to overcome and highly doubt they can get the content rights to the right sports to make it really take off. In the end the deal will put more money in Vaicom's pocket but essentially its star fighters will actually get less exposure and I'm sure the top talent(cost the most) will be only featured on the product that is paying them big dollars to broadcast. Easiest way for Viacom to make money on Bellator. Rory's and Fedor's of the world on Paramount lose money for Viacom show after show.
P.S.: Hard to praise Coker for signing some of these guys. Where else will they fight if they don't want to travel half way around the world for a one off match? He gets them almost by default in the end if they don't want to go back to the UFC. Just like how its been for years with the UFC. Hard to give Dana credit for signing any fighter since a majority of fighter's goal is to to be in the UFC when they start out.
