to be fair, they didn't start going heavily down the WWE-style "entertainment industry" path until quite recently (long after UFC commited to it), when they announced their first PPV ever involving Quinton and Tito...
before that, their tournament format and pipeline of hi-skill/lo-charisma Eastern-European fighters made Bellator a FAR less commercial, FAR less spin-doctored ("Ronda Rousey is one of the best MMA practitioners of either gender ON PLANET EARTH!!!"...should have an over-under prop on how many times that exact 3-word sequence will come out of Rogan's mouth on one broadcast,,,but i digress)...
for obvious reasons, Bellator has always been shorter than the UFC in the overall-talent department...but, son of a bitch, they always TRIED to compensate for that by being LESS about the entertainment/marketability/etc. bullshit and MORE about the sport...it was the tournament-format selecting the next challenger that kept everything real, everything cohesive...
but since that WWE-style "surprised by Tito" carrying the flag walkout to announce their first "Superfight" PPV attempt...they've gone full-tilt into the bullshit attention-whoring...best example is this latest crap of Quinton ("where and when's my next paycheck") Jackson and Muhammed Lawal PRETENDING (when the cameras are rolling) to hate each other..."bad blood" my ass...it's bad acting and a cringe-worthy reminder that Bellator's decided to downplay the sport and play up the attention-whoring aspects...
I liked them MUCH better when they didn't have any end-of-career recognizable "names" in their roster...and their only pure theatre was "sweet surrender"...I'll take that any day over two 205-pounders (both good fighters/both dreadful actors) who just engaged in a snooze-fest start in with the prepared script as if there's some natural groundswell for a rematch...as if we'd just watched Hunt & Bigfot, Jones & Gustaffson...or, yes...Chandler & Alvarez
before that, their tournament format and pipeline of hi-skill/lo-charisma Eastern-European fighters made Bellator a FAR less commercial, FAR less spin-doctored ("Ronda Rousey is one of the best MMA practitioners of either gender ON PLANET EARTH!!!"...should have an over-under prop on how many times that exact 3-word sequence will come out of Rogan's mouth on one broadcast,,,but i digress)...
for obvious reasons, Bellator has always been shorter than the UFC in the overall-talent department...but, son of a bitch, they always TRIED to compensate for that by being LESS about the entertainment/marketability/etc. bullshit and MORE about the sport...it was the tournament-format selecting the next challenger that kept everything real, everything cohesive...
but since that WWE-style "surprised by Tito" carrying the flag walkout to announce their first "Superfight" PPV attempt...they've gone full-tilt into the bullshit attention-whoring...best example is this latest crap of Quinton ("where and when's my next paycheck") Jackson and Muhammed Lawal PRETENDING (when the cameras are rolling) to hate each other..."bad blood" my ass...it's bad acting and a cringe-worthy reminder that Bellator's decided to downplay the sport and play up the attention-whoring aspects...
I liked them MUCH better when they didn't have any end-of-career recognizable "names" in their roster...and their only pure theatre was "sweet surrender"...I'll take that any day over two 205-pounders (both good fighters/both dreadful actors) who just engaged in a snooze-fest start in with the prepared script as if there's some natural groundswell for a rematch...as if we'd just watched Hunt & Bigfot, Jones & Gustaffson...or, yes...Chandler & Alvarez