And to everyone that wanted to know what the controversy was in my interview a month or so ago, well here it is! I tagged a few people but feel free to tag more and share. Question: What are your thoughts on your dealings with Bellator MMA? Answer: Initially, they were great to deal with. Deals were done and fights were scheduled and the fights happened as planned. Some scheduling issues and setbacks have prevented them from picking up a few of our guys options remaining on their contracts but that is to be expected when you sign long-term deals. I honestly think the entire Middleweight division is scared of Tex Johnson so they need to grow some balls and actually agree to fight him. But let me go off topic a little here. I liked the pre-Viacom, pre-Spike TV version of Bellator a lot better than the current version. Back then, they had the balls to do what needed to be done, solid leadership, and a plan/model to become a legit top-level MMA promotion worldwide. In those days of Bellator, it ultimately came down to a set of talented guys getting into a cage to prove they belonged with the best in the world. But the purchase by Viacom and the move to Spike TV has changed that. They were pressured to cut the womens division because it was dead weight and they didnt want to put womens fights on Spike TV. Bellator complied and all the women were released. They were pressured into investing a ton of marketing/PR money into King Mo Lawal. Bellator again complied and if Newton keeps his mind right (we now know that he did and beat King Mo) then King will be 1-2 in the Bellator cage and a disastrous flop for them on national TV. They were pressured to do crossovers with TNA Impact Wrestling to boost ratings. Bellator complied and what actually happened was Impact ratings went up because MMA fans tuned into to see the Bellator talent but there have been no notable ratings increases for Bellator currently because the crossover talent (Tito/Rampage) hasnt competed yet (and we now know that fight didnt even happen so there goes some more marketing/PR money and crossover potential down the drain). There are more specific things that I could dive into but I will sum it up in a couple sentences to close this topic. It appears that Viacom/Spike says to jump and Bellator responds with How high do you want me to jump and how many hoops do you want me to go through while we are up there? This isnt training mode on Star Fox for SNES - its the business of MMA. Viacom needs to let Bellator run the company the way that they want to and need to in order to succeed and eventually boost ratings over time by creating a marketable product that MMA fans want to watch. Because right now, Bellator is coming off as corporate sellouts that are changing everything to the way Viacom wants it. I really hope that changes soon or I see Bellators ratings staying the same and ultimately Viacom will be looking to sell their majority stake in the company to the highest bidder soon.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 15:33:07 +0000
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