Viacom possibly moving Bellator to CMT.

I miss MMA on Showtime. And Coker has a history there.

Excellent point
I wouldn't doubt that if SHO/Via merge, that it could be the plan with CMT.

Obviously something is up with the simulcasting. It makes zero sense to hurt paramount that way
 
Excellent point
I wouldn't doubt that if SHO/Via merge, that it could be the plan with CMT.

Obviously something is up with the simulcasting. It makes zero sense to hurt paramount that way
Smaller shows on CMT, tent pole events on Showtime.
 
Uh oh...

I used to root for Bellator so hard 3 years ago, Coker still had the reigns then. It was the 2015/16 roster cuts, Bellator 149, dilution of the prelims, and terrible match-ups that got me uninterested. They're doing exactly what the UFC used to do with weak international cards, except they don't have the name value to pull that off.

Their prospects and even some of their top fighters are protected and people see right through that. Go to a live Bellator and see if I'm wrong.

I'm not sure what CMT would change about this.
 
Uh oh...

I used to root for Bellator so hard 3 years ago, Coker still had the reigns then. It was the 2015/16 roster cuts, Bellator 149, dilution of the prelims, and terrible match-ups that got me uninterested. They're doing exactly what the UFC used to do with weak international cards, except they don't have the name value to pull that off.

Their prospects and even some of their top fighters are protected and people see right through that. Go to a live Bellator and see if I'm wrong.

I'm not sure what CMT would change about this.

If Coker is still in charge, it most likely wouldn't
But it will tighten the budget most likely & give Bellator more realistic goals.
Doing 400k on Paramount is not as good as doing 350k on CMT as far as Viacom's interest.
 
Spot on ... great post.
WME looks at UFC as a business. They are not in it because they love MMA.
Coker's love of MMA is bigger than his business acumen sadly
But Frankie, is there any proof that guys like Rory or Bader don't help with drawing ratings? I'm honestly asking, because to me I tuned in to watch the last couple Rory and Bader cards. It's the Larkin/Gonzalez, Chandler/Girtz, and McDonald/Ligier events that make me go hmmm, well that probably won't draw well.

I just want to make sure we're blaming the right people here, cause a lot of what I see doesn't seem to be Paramounts problem, but Scott Cokers problem, as from my POV he's failing to put together shows that draw interest from even fans on Sherdog.

Fedor/Mir on the other hand, big interest here, so I just assume it'll get decent ratings.
 
Bring Bjorn back. He ran Bellator on peanuts and put on the most memorable cards in Bellator history. There were Friday nights when I stopped watching Bellator and I was so hyped for next week or the next round in the tournaments. Now I feel like meh after Bellator cards. The only thing that excites me are the potential stars like Pico, Gallagher, and McKee
 
Is Dana White sending out the tombstone to have the Bellator name added shortly?
 
Smaller shows on CMT, tent pole events on Showtime.
plus prelims on CMT and weekly wrap-up/preview/best of shows on CMT with musical country guests or whatever when there is no event on at the same time every week since viewers are creatures of habit
 
So a promotion spends a bunch of money to sign fighters who made their name elsewhere. An unnecessarily long HW tourney that holds up HW title fights. A company in the red, struggling for profit. Hey, that's how UFC acquired like their biggest star ever and a whole roster that turned the UFC into a multi-billion dollar promotion, Uh I mean Scott Coker is the most brilliant promoter in MMA.

LOL if we look back, whatever the UFC paid for Coker's in the red failing Strikeforce was a bargain. They got one of the biggest stars ever and a bunch of champs they still promote now.

It sucks because like Strikeforce Bellator was amazing at one point until an unoriginal lame promoter ruined them by trying to be UFC lite.
 
Bellator dying a slow death
 
But Frankie, is there any proof that guys like Rory or Bader don't help with drawing ratings? I'm honestly asking, because to me I tuned in to watch the last couple Rory and Bader cards. It's the Larkin/Gonzalez, Chandler/Girtz, and McDonald/Ligier events that make me go hmmm, well that probably won't draw well.

I just want to make sure we're blaming the right people here, cause a lot of what I see doesn't seem to be Paramounts problem, but Scott Cokers problem, as from my POV he's failing to put together shows that draw interest from even fans on Sherdog.

Fedor/Mir on the other hand, big interest here, so I just assume it'll get decent ratings.

Hey man,
I don't think its an isolated issue as far as 1 or 2 signings.
I think it is an issue of Coker expanding the budget, then losing millions on PPV & ratings going down.
Ratings are the whole reason Viacom purchased Bellator.
If Bellator can break even yearly, they can be safe because Viacom makes on the network end.
 
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Figured I'd add this here.
Dave Meltzer emailed me and said he hasn't heard the reason for the simulcasting, but said Viacom are having issues with Bellator's ratings drop.
 
If the original home of the UFC couldnt make it work how is showtime going to do it?

CMT is also a death sentence as poster above said.

I cant believe how they fucked this up so badly. Who the hell is telling them to run 20 plus events a year?

If they had just went to a smaller schedule the events could have felt bigger with more excitement.

The irony in all this is the fact that the original intention moving away from seasonal weeklies was to provide more stacked cards. Now it’s just generic card after generic card filled with local fighters and the occasional name.
 
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Their prospects and even some of their top fighters are protected and people see right through that. Go to a live Bellator and see if I'm wrong.

I'm not sure what CMT would change about this.

It’s 2018 and they still talk as if MVP is some fresh face off the streets prospect.
 
Figured I'd add this here.
Dave Meltzer emailed me and said he hasn't heard the reason for the simulcasting, but said Viacom are having issues with Bellator's ratings drop.
wonder if we'll see any desperation tactics like staged craziness to get headlines. danis is on the next card, that entourage could always do something crazy.

my hope is that Fedor Mir alone should draw ratings but who knows anymore
 
wonder if we'll see any desperation tactics like staged craziness to get headlines. danis is on the next card, that entourage could always do something crazy.

my hope is that Fedor Mir alone should draw ratings but who knows anymore

Ratings will go up (for sure), but will it be enough to cover the money they spent on both main fighters, etc.?
Re: craziness
WTF knows after the Tito/Bonner stuff?
It was silly, but drew interest
 
The irony in all this is the fact that the original intention moving away from seasonal weeklies was to provide more stacked cards. Now it’s just generic card after generic card filled with local fighters and the occasional name.

Couldn't have said it better my self.

Way too many generic cards through out the year. Hard to build any momentum with the product.
 
my hope is that Fedor Mir alone should draw ratings but who knows anymore

And history will repeat itself for the upteenth time with organizations foolishly paying Fedor a truckload of cash worth a ton more than he would ever realistically draw in the US.
 
Figured I'd add this here.
Dave Meltzer emailed me and said he hasn't heard the reason for the simulcasting, but said Viacom are having issues with Bellator's ratings drop.

Frankie you have any inside knowledge of how the decision's are made for Bellator?

Things like who sign's off on the event card, who decide's location of the event, is Bellator just giving a flat budget to stick to or is kind of flowing situation depending on how the money is being spent, etc. etc.
 
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