As of 2013, all ties SPIKE TV had with the UFC were legally severed. This freed the cable channel up to add MMA of a different flavor to their lineup, namely, Bellator MMA. How will they measure up against MMA Juggernaut, UFC?
Over the years of UFC’s domination of the sport of MMA there have been many mixed martial arts organizations. Elite XC had the network deal with CBS, however it was run by boxing promoter, Gary Shaw who had no understanding of how to run an MMA company. Also, he put all his eggs in one basket. A basket by the name of Kimbo Slice. This man was a YouTube star due to many videos of him knocking people out. Eventually, his short comings were displayed and Elite XC’s credibility was shot. After a melee between the Diaz brothers and Jason “Mayhem” Miller, live on CBS, made MMA look like a bunch of thugs, CBS washed their hands of the sport.
Affliction MMA was started by the owner of the clothing line of the same name. Tom Atencio started his own fight company after UFC banned his brand from sponsoring fighters at their shows. Atencio signed the biggest names outside the UFC like Fedor Emelienko and Ben Rothwell, as well as former UFC Champions like Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Vitor Belfort and Tim Silvia. After three events, the company folded their MMA side and Atencio mended ties with Dana White. Affliction is now allowed to sponsor UFC fighters.
StrikeForce had all the tools to become some real competition to the UFC. An owner in Scott Coker, who understood the MMA business. A deal with Showtime to run events as well as signing key fighters such as Nick Diaz, Cung Le, Gina Carano, Ronda Rousey, King Mo, Dan Henderson, Allistair Overeem and of course, Fedor. Unfortunately, they made their biggest mistakes banking on stars to win fights rather than just promoting fights themselves. Dan Henderson wasn’t supposed to lose to Jake Shields, but he did. And Shields left the company as its middleweight champion. Fedor wasn’t supposed to lose to Fabricio Werdum, but he did. Via triangle choke in the first round. Then Zuffa, UFC’s parent company, purchased them. After taking some of StrikeForce’s key fighters and moving them to UFC, canceled events and other circumstances, Showtime lost interest and ran StrikeForce’s final show January 12, 2013.
Bellator has many things a company needs to compete against UFC. It’s different in format, with the tournament style. They signed a big star in King Mo and have stars they have built, who came up through the tournament like champions Michael Chandler and Pat Curran. Most importantly, they’re on SPIKE TV. UFC used SPIKE TV to launch them and the sport of MMA to great success. People who tune into SPIKE TV, want to see MMA on this channel. With a live event every Thursday, they’ll get it.
Do I think Bellator MMA, will ever unseat the Ultimate Fighting Championship as the world’s premier MMA organization? Highly unlikely. UFC is the brand. People know it more than they know the sport of MMA. It’s Kleenex. It’s Xerox…. Gatorade. But if Bellator learns from the mistakes of the past and keeps offering a different flavor of MMA, they stand to be very successful. Don’t try to beat the UFC and don’t try to be the UFC. Be Bellator, and be good.