# Anyone else think Bellator is the best non zuffa american promotion



## Chileandude

I've been following this second season of Bellator closely and i have to say i'm pretty impressed. While Strikeforce seems like a poor man's UFC, Bellator seems to have found it's niche with a TV tournament format, good up and coming fighters featured and good production values for what it is.

I love that they are not trying to compete with the UFC, and they are trying to build up MMA on their own right putting great entertaining fights and showcasing up and coming talent while at it.


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## kantowrestler

*Best Non-Zuffa*

Yeah I have to agree that it is a good promotion. UFC and WEC have both become a little inflatted and Dana White has become arrogant in how he uses it. Strikeforce is trying to pull out all the stops they can and are screwing things up on the way. All the other promotions outside the United States are just doing their own thing for the most part and any other American promotions are just too small. Bellator's way of doing things is a good blend of old tournament style with a modern twist and with the tournament style comes the guarentee that they won't have depth problems.


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## joshua7789

I def agree. I think behind the UFC, its tough to call who has a better roster between Bellator and the WEC. Strikeforce is extremely top heavy with pretty much nothing behind there top ten guys. Bellator is pretty solid in all of there divisions and there fights are pretty exciting, also gotta love there tournament format.


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## kantowrestler

*Weightclasses*

I think Bellator's only got two notable problems. The first is that even though it didn't happen last season, there is the possibility that one of the winning fighters might suffer injuries from their fight and have to pull out. Not sure what they would do in that case. Second, they don't have champions in all their weightclasses. The three other weightclasses that don't have them are bantemweight, lightheavyweight, and heavyweight.


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## Chileandude

kantowrestler said:


> I think Bellator's only got two notable problems. The first is that even though it didn't happen last season, there is the possibility that one of the winning fighters might suffer injuries from their fight and have to pull out. Not sure what they would do in that case. Second, they don't have champions in all their weightclasses. The three other weightclasses that don't have them are bantemweight, lightheavyweight, and heavyweight.


And the WEC doesn't have WW, MW, LHW or HW

I Think Bellator is fine running from FW to MW


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## kantowrestler

*One Issue*

That still doesn't solve the issue of what would happen if a winner gets injured and can't continue!


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## joshua7789

kantowrestler said:


> That still doesn't solve the issue of what would happen if a winner gets injured and can't continue!


Could be a lot worse. Strikeforces hw belt hasnt been defended in over two years. Josh Thomson went well over a year before he fought Melendez again. There big money, marquee name fighter (Fedor) may or may not ever fight for them again. The main point of what im saying is that comparatively speaking, they are doing a hell of a lot better then any other organization that is busting there ass to claim the number two spot.


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## kantowrestler

*Last Problem*

One other problem I can think about is what if one or more of the champions looses in one of the upcoming superfights? Will that person get an automatic bid into the next tournament or what?


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## SigFig

Like Bellator in general...

Things I don't like -- (1) the tournament bracket is made up as the tournament goes along so the promoter can influence matchups as it progresses and (2) the TV schedule is frustrating as hell where I live -- pre empted by baseball game replays!?!


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## kantowrestler

*Baseball Replays*

I'm with you right there, Fox Sports Midwest was definately a pain on that!


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## HaVoK

As far as talent goes...Yup I sure do. They also appear to be a real classy organization. They know their place in the Promotional food chain as well which will serve them well for years to come.


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## pt447

Although I've heard of them for some time, in name only really, I've recently been watching it when it's on; which seems to be all the time. 

I like the tourney setup a lot! Good fights.


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## kantowrestler

*All The Time*

It's only supposed to be on Thursday nights but it might have replays constantly!


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## Inkdot

I love Bellator, so many good fights! :thumbsup:

Def enjoy it more then Strikeforce lately, but still Strikeforce has had a couple of awesome cards except for the last two.

Overall i like Bellator better but SF has the potential to set up more exciting individual matches.


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## kantowrestler

*Controversy*

Yeah Bellator has only had one problem match and that was Akren's match, other than that its pretty good!


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## Ape City

I love watching bellator on the score. Great promotion!


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## kantowrestler

*Future*

I wonder how successful Bellator will be in the future!


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## Chileandude

I love how they were explaining the submissions, great night of fights and they are coming with a HW Tourney next, interesting.


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## pt447

I agree with the premise of this thread. I don't watch it religiously, but since it's basically on new every week, I try and catch a few fights. Every time I do I get treated to relentless striking, and very very active submission fighting. 

Very good. I love the tourney style, because in my eyes it provides a sport-like structure MMA really needs to employ. Otherwise it's just opinion as to who should fight who. 

I have to say that, agreeing with what some others have posted here, about the UFC & Strikeforce, Bellator seems more like a sport to me than the others. Which is something I've been waiting for MMA to attain for many many years!

Good stuff!

**apparently I've already replied to this thread... as a note, I woke up literally 10 minutes ago***


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## kantowrestler

*Sport*

Yeah the tournament style does add a bit of a sports like atomosphere to the promotion. It's similar to the early UFC tournaments and the PRIDE tournaments. Not to mention the tournaments that DREAM and Sengoku now do.


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## punchbag

kantowrestler said:


> Yeah I have to agree that it is a good promotion. UFC and WEC have both become a little inflatted and Dana White has become arrogant in how he uses it. Strikeforce is trying to pull out all the stops they can and are screwing things up on the way. All the other promotions outside the United States are just doing their own thing for the most part and any other American promotions are just too small. Bellator's way of doing things is a good blend of old tournament style with a modern twist and with the tournament style comes the guarentee that they won't have depth problems.


For me, Strikeforce is the only real contender outside the zuffa orgs, but BELLATOR seems to be gaining ground, and with fighters like LOMBARD on their books, who knows what they can achieve.
All I know is competition is good for MMA on this subject the new "IMPACT FC" in Australia looks really interesting(SORRY),lol.


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## kantowrestler

*Impact FC*

Yeah but they're doing the same thing as every other promotion, matchmaking!


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## _RIVAL_

No.

STRIKEFORCE is the best non zuffa american promotion.


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## kantowrestler

*Strikeforce*

I don't disagree, but you have to admit that Bellator is getting up there!


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## _RIVAL_

kantowrestler said:


> I don't disagree, but you have to admit that Bellator is getting up there!


Bellator is a very solid promotion. I just think that Strikeforce has ten times the talent.


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## joshua7789

_RIVAL_ said:


> Bellator is a very solid promotion. I just think that Strikeforce has ten times the talent.


I disagree dude. I think Strikeforce is a very top heavy promotion. They have some top ten talent, but not much after that. They do have some prospects, but they seem way more concerned with getting big name fighters instead of building young talent. Not hating, I watch every strikeforce event.


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## _RIVAL_

joshua7789 said:


> I disagree dude. I think Strikeforce is a very top heavy promotion. They have some top ten talent, but not much after that. They do have some prospects, but they seem way more concerned with getting big name fighters instead of building young talent. Not hating, I watch every strikeforce event.


I can't agree with this though..... 

At LW under the champ.. Josh Thompson, K.J. Noons, Ishida, Ribero, Beerbohm, Evangelista, Huen, and a few more talented fighters...

At HW under the champ... Bigfoot, Fedor, Werdum, Abongo, Lavar Johnson, Shane Del Rosario, and Rogers...and a few more

At MW under the champ.... Manhoef, Lawler, Jacare, Villasenor, Radach, Le, Smith, Dan Henderson, Mayhem Miller, ... and a few more

A LHW under the champ.... Mousasi, Rafael Feijao, Babalu, Gracie, ... division needs building....

At WW under the champ..... Tyron Woodley, Marius, Jay Heiron, Andre Galvao, and a small pecking order which also needs rebuilding....

But above all that you still got guys that prove to be compeditive in any fight...

fighters like.... TIm Kennedy, Bobby Lashley, Misaki, Luke Ruckhold, Arlovski, Riggs, Jorge Gurgel, and so on... lot of talent I didn't even name...

Bellator has a good roster of talent.... but Strikeforce is just building into a strong 2nd promotion to the UFC.


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## kantowrestler

*Strong Second*

I don't deny Strikeforce is second to the UFC. What I don't agree with is that Strikeforce has as quality talent as UFC. They do have some good fighters and big names but they don't have much beyond that, which they should focus on with their ShoMMA series instead of putting a fading veteran like Matt Lindland as the main event!


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## Chileandude

Strikeforce does have the second best fighters, that's not disputed.

But the promotional aspect of strikeforce leaves a lot to be desired and i think Bellator blows it out of the water there.


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## kantowrestler

*Promotional Aspect*

Yeah CBS is a good channel to hold events on but Showtime isn't that ideal. Fox Sports Net is more ideal despite the pain of having to watch it on delay because of other sports!


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## Wookie

I really think Bellator > Strikeforce not because of the fighters, but because of the difference in production and product. Although SF has the better fighters I really enjoy watching Bellator a whole lot better because of the commentating and just the general feel of the Bellator show vs. Strikeforce. Although the scheduling conflicts suck, it's nice to have an event every week and if/when they add the HW divison to the tourney it will make the season longer and more quality fights. All in all I've been pretty impressed with Bellator.


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## kantowrestler

*Mistake*

I agree with you on everything except for what you said on the heavyweight tournament. The heavyweights will be competing next season in the fall and it won't extend the season because they'll be fighting along with the lightheavyweights, the bantemweights, and the women!


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## The Horticulturist

Bellator is much funner to watch, and other than when Fedor is fighting, I look forward more to sitting down and watching bellator. I make sure to skip through all of the production on strikeforce. So regardless of the talent argument, (which more than half of belongs to DREAM, really) I think bellator is a better promotion with more potential and a much more solid base.


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## kantowrestler

*Other Stuff*

Yeah I hate to say it but Strikeforce's production team doesn't know what they're doing!


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## _RIVAL_

SJ said:


> . So regardless of the talent argument, (which more than half of belongs to DREAM, really) I think bellator is a better promotion with more potential and a much more solid base.


How does half of that talent belong to DREAM.... ?

I think the only fighters that have fought from that organization that aren't signed are Marius, and Shinya....

Mousasi, Manhoef, Ribero, King Mo..... those guys are all signed long term.


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## kantowrestler

*Longterm*

Yeah the only longterm guys with Bellator seem to be their champions!


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## Ape City

i coudlnt even name more than 5 fighters in bellator and tbh i dont even care. I watch it purely for fights and remember some of the up and comeres. They put on amazing fights but have little starpower. Makes for some really awsome fights to watch.


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## Hammerlock2.0

I just hate that I can't watch it live and there are no good downloads. There are alternatives (thanks Bobby!) but I prefer watching whole events while lying in bed over single fights while sitting in front of the computer. From what I've seen I can say that Bellator is definitely exciting. I'm not a guy who prefers one company over another though. Of course the UFC has the biggest names but if John Smith fought the guy next door on that channel nobody has ever heard about I'd still watch it.


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## kantowrestler

*What?*

Are we talking about Oklahoma State's John Smith?


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## Chileandude

Hammerlock2.0 said:


> I just hate that I can't watch it live and there are no good downloads. There are alternatives (thanks Bobby!) but I prefer watching whole events while lying in bed over single fights while sitting in front of the computer. From what I've seen I can say that Bellator is definitely exciting. I'm not a guy who prefers one company over another though. Of course the UFC has the biggest names but if John Smith fought the guy next door on that channel nobody has ever heard about I'd still watch it.


i've found that season 2 bellator torrents are relatively easy to find, they are even at pirate bay.


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## kantowrestler

*Pirate Bay?*

What is that?


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## Chileandude

kantowrestler said:


> What is that?


A rather famous torrent tracker or search engine or whatever.


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## beezer

Yes it usually takes a couple of days but Wrestling Bay (closed ddl forum) puts out really nice quality rips (both xvid and 720p) that find their way to Pirate Bay quite quickly. Give it until Sat-Sun and you should find the latest episode.


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## kantowrestler

*Wrestling Bay?*

Now what is that?


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## beezer

kantowrestler said:


> Now what is that?


Sorry 

It is just a provate forum basically, but the focus is on direct download links and there are streams as well. Registrations seems to be closed but check back now and then and you might be able to sign up.


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## kantowrestler

*Registration Closed*

So it only has a limited number of members?


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## Chileandude

anyone saw Imada vs Curran?

I had it 29-28 Imada =/


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## Wookie

Yeah that decision was ridiculous, they totally screwed Imada.


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## kantowrestler

*Imada*

Was Huerta screwed to or was it a close decision?


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## Chileandude

kantowrestler said:


> Was Huerta screwed to or was it a close decision?


as far as i recall that fight was a toss up


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## _RIVAL_

Chileandude said:


> anyone saw Imada vs Curran?
> 
> I had it 29-28 Imada =/



So did I.

That was ridiculous.... 

Imada is becoming one of my favorite underdogs now days, he's pretty damn solid. And he won me as a fan for life with that inverted triangle on Jorge Masvidal.


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## kantowrestler

*Underdog*

Wonder if Imada is going to get another shot in another Bellator tournament!


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## Chileandude

Hmmm anyone else scored that fight for Pitbull Freire?

How do you see Shlemenko vs Lombard and Warren vs Soto?


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## LiteGladiator

Chileandude said:


> Hmmm anyone else scored that fight for Pitbull Freire?
> 
> How do you see Shlemenko vs Lombard and Warren vs Soto?


I scored that for Pitbull, but that is probably biased because I think Pitbull is freakin' awesome. It was too close and he didn't do a whole crapload in the last 2 round, and absolutely nothing on the ground.

Shlemenko will get smashed by Lombard. He is like 2 freaking weight classes bigger! Not to mention he is a devastating fighter. But I have underestimated Shlemenko in the past.

I want Soto to beat Warren, but Warren has skill and the ability, I will not doubt that. He is also learning very fast.

Anyone else not looking forward to next season? Nothing about women's MMA impresses me, I just find it extremely pathetic. I also don't want to see a bunch of fat guys gas after 60 seconds and not be able to knock each other out for 15 minutes. However I love Bantamweights!


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## kantowrestler

*Bantamweights*

Yeah I wonder how that tournament is going to go!


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