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Any talk of Bellator's fifth season launch this Saturday has been absolutely buried by Nick Diaz drama, the UFC setting a date for an event in Japan, and the UFC announcing a heavyweight super-fight between Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem. Those three mega announcements are so widely discussed that other Zuffa matters like the announcement of a Frank Mir-Minotauro Nogueira rematch and a Strikeforce Middleweight Championship fight have gone virtually unnoticed.
The fact is that Bellator has compelling bantamweight, welterweight, middleweight, and heavyweight tournaments lined up, but no one cares. For the most part, this is due to Bellator not branding itself properly, even in the eyes of hardcore MMA fans.
The chances of Bellator securing a deal on the level of the UFC's deal with Fox are slim. The chances of Bellator becoming competitive with the UFC on pay-per-view are even slimmer. However, Bellator does compete with the UFC for talent, and they do it very, very well.
Bantamweight and featherweight are the only two weight classes that haven't been picked clean by the UFC. Bellator is in a unique position, in that they have a number of fighters under their banner at those weights that rival the skill level of elite fighters in the UFC. Their lightweight field isn't really comparable to the UFC's, but it's certainly closer than one would expect. Bellator's welterweight division doesn't have nearly the depth that the UFC's 170 pound field, but they do have fighters that would be mainstays in the UFC's division. Things get a bit dicey at 185 pounds and up, but you can't win them all.
The biggest problem with getting people to care about Bellator is that there really isn't a UFC tie-in. At this point there is no question that the UFC is the major league of MMA. That isn't to say that there aren't quality fighters outside the Zuffa umbrella, but if Bellator is the minor leagues, then what is their tie-in to the major leagues?
Bellator retaining fighters like Hector Lombard and Eddie Alvarez is great; but only for Lombard and Alvarez. They aren't big enough draws to casual fans to bring in an audience comparable to UFC audiences, so while they are valuable, they aren't going to take Bellator to the next level by beating up and coming fighters. They are certainly names to hardcore MMA fans, but they just don't have access to the type of competition that will up their status in the sport or even keep them relevant long-term. In fact hardcore fans are so aware of their superiority that it's hard to get people excited over the prospect of Lombard or Alvarez defending their championships against Bellator tournament winners.
As I said, the biggest problem is the lack of a UFC tie-in. For what it's worth, Bellator tournaments are probably more sporting than anything the UFC offers. The quality of talent that Bellator is able to extract particularly at the lower weights is incredible, but the UFC is still the major league of the sport. Bellator can only go so far matching up unknown prospects and making them into stars. If they never advance to the UFC level, then interest in them will inevitably plateau.
As crazy as it may sound, it's hard to see how Bellator can drum up interest in their product long-term without letting some of their fighters wind up in the UFC. The Bellator tournament is excellent at finding prospects, but without a next step, they'll likely stagnate.
This Saturday night marks the first time that Bellator prelims will be aired on Spike.com, which suggests that Bellator will more than likely wind up on Spike TV once the deal between Spike and the UFC officially ends. On their biggest platform yet, it's going to be interesting to see if Bellator can get new eyeballs just being "the other" MMA promotion without being the UFC's true minor league.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter @JasonAmadi. You don't have to go through an eight main tournament to get a response from me, but it wouldn't hurt either.
Paul Buentello Josh Burkman Mikey Burnett Murilo Bustamante Grant Campbell
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