Bellator MMA Ups The Ante With Impressive Fight Roster/Fights

By Anthony “Zute” George

Bellator MMA has often been scrutinized for being a poor man’s UFC. Probably not even that respectable. Despite the criticism, Bellator has always had a consistent cult following. Devoted fans who crave their mixed martial arts the way a drunk twenty-something from the Bronx craves White Castles; yes, I still recall those days.

One component Bellator MMA always had in their favor was consistency. You knew where and when to find them on your television set. Therefore, even if Bellator might have lacked in high quality MMA, compared to the UFC, they provided fans with a consistent outlet of fights that did not come with a hefty pay per view price tag. Now, Bellator not only enjoys an outlet that is baked in the cake (Spike TV, typically Friday Nights), their product has stepped up immensely in quality.

2017 has already been monumental for Bellator MMA. It promises to step it up a notch in May and June. In May, Bellator 179 takes place in London, England. The main event features the debut of Rory MacDonald fighting Paul Daley for his Welterweight Title. This stellar matchup is available for all to see on Spike TV, a channel most people who own cable have. Daley has fought for Bellator MMA since 2015 and has worked his way into one of the more popular mixed martial artists in the world. Wembley will be rocking on May 19th. MacDonald has fought on the highest possible level in MMA and wants to prove that he had plenty left in the tank. The fight is ‘stylistic euphoria’ (I should coin that phrase), as these guys will not have to find each other.

In June, Bellator MMA comes to the Big Apple and dives into the PPV waters once again. This time around their PPV product is not dependent solely on a grudge match (Rampage vs. King Mo), which in my opinion was nothing but a gimmick. On June 24th, Madison Square Garden plays host to arguably the most stacked MMA card of the year. I will speak more on the actual fights closer to fight time Bellator’s growing reputation is what makes this king of fight card possible.

I do not want to make it sound like Bellator is close to matching the quality of the UFC. The UFC is still head and shoulders above all other organizations. With that said, Bellator MMA has never been discouraged and taken themselves out of the race. A race that started with the Little Engine That Could, facing off against Domenic Toretto in a Lamborghini. Indeed, far from a fair race, however, driving that Little Engine had the heart and ingenuity of Brian O’Conner. Toretto, the UFC, has been so far ahead in the race they never seemed concerned with who was driving Little Engine. All O’Conner, Bellator, has done since the race began is legitimize a fighter Toretto banned (Daley), ink a legend you failed to (Fedor), and become popular enough to secure the most legendary arena of all(MSG). Perhaps now they will take notice.

The biggest benefactor from the rise of Bellator MMA is of course the fans. A sport that was once more or less for fans who could afford PPV is now saturated with quality exposure. Spike TV should also be applauded. They took a chance on the UFC when not many would. Now they are doing quite well with both Bellator MMA, as well as kickboxing and PBC Boxing. Bellator MMA is a great model for what it takes to be a fighter, as well as serving the grind that is life. Believe in what you are doing, persevere, even in the face of the beast, and you just might meet your goals.

Zutes Boxing Talk & Zutes MMA Talk are podcasts that bring you the world of combat sports straight up with no twists. In each episode, “Zute” calls upon the best boxing & MMA minds in the business to talk about the current state of the fight game, and interviews some of the best fighters in the world of combat sports. Carlos Palomino, Mikey Garcia Sergey Kovalev, Shonie Carter and Jeremy Horn are among the guests that have been featured on the podcast.

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