Anyone else think Bellator is the best non zuffa american promotion

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

I Think Bellator is fine running from FW to MW

One Issue

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

kantowrestler said:

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

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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.

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?

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!?!

Baseball Replays

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

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.

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.

All The Time

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

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.

Controversy

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

I love watching bellator on the score. Great promotion!

Future

I wonder how successful Bellator will be in the future!

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

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***

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.