The competition is getting to be something fierce in the Bellator featherweight division, as former Greco-Roman World Champion wrestler Joe Warren became the latest major signing for the upstart promotion.
Warren Latest Bellator Signing
Warren is the fifth announced fighter and probably the most recognizable name in the field. A former Michigan University wrestling standout, Warren continued his wrestling career on the international level in the Greco-Roman style, winning the 2006 FILA World Championship, which established him as the favorite for gold in the 2008 Olympics. Warren’s path to gold was interrupted by a positive test for THC, found commonly in marijuana, and received a two-year ban from competition.
Officially making the transition to MMA in 2008, Warren (2-1) joined Team Quest to train alongside fellow Greco-Roman wrestler and MMA star Dan Henderson. Warren didn’t take long making a name for himself, knocking off former WEC champ Chase Beebe in his first professional fight and following that with a stunning upset of Japanese MMA star Kid Yamamota in his second bout. Warren’s run at Dream 11 would come to an end in the semifinals against eventual Dream champion Bibiano Fernandes.
“We are very excited about this signing and being the MMA organization that brought Joe back to the states,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “Joe has the ability, drive, confidence and personality to become a star in our sport. His first two wins would make a good career for most fighters and as his stand-up continues developing, the sky is the limit for Joe Warren.”
Warren enters a stacked featherweight division that includes Patricio Friere (12-0), Georgi Karakhaynan (12-1-1), William Romero (5-0) and Bao Quach (17-9-1). The winner is guaranteed a shot at current Bellator champion Joe Soto (8-0).
“I competed for the USA for 10 years and I bleed red, white and blue,” Warren said. “So I’m ready to come back to this country, make my U.S. debut and fight in front of the American MMA fans. I love everything that Bellator is doing and I’m just honored to be a part of their organization.”
Season 2 for the Bellator Fighting Championships kicks off April 8th at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, FL. Tournaments will be featured in the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight division. All Bellator fights will be aired live on Fox Sports Net each week, with replay highlight shows on NBC and Telemundo on Saturday nights.
Bellator Fighting Championships finalized four of its scheduled events for the upcoming Seasons 2 and 3, announcing that it will return to the Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL. During its first season, Bellator began and ended its season at the Hard Rock Live, culminating in a near sellout for the upstart MMA promotion to close its inaugural campaign.
Bellator Returns To The Hard Rock
The dates to be held at the Hard Rock Live include:
Bellator XIII, April 8, 2010
Bellator XXII, June 10, 2010
Bellator XXV, Aug. 12, 2010
Bellator XXXVI, Oct. 28, 2010
In addition to the events at the Hard Rock, Bellator will be securing venues for 20 other events to be held nationwide over the next few weeks. All events will be broadcast live in primetime through a distribution arrangement with FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates. Bellator has also scheduled a 30-minute highlight show to air Saturday night on NBC, as well as a Spanish-language replay that will air on Telemundo on Saturdays as well.
The news of the first venues follows a recent rash of high-profile signings that include Dan Hornbuckle, former Olympian Ben Askren, Patricio Freire and Georgi Karakhaynan. Season 2 will follow the same tournament format with the winner of the tournament guaranteed a title shot against Bellator’s Season 1 champions Joe Soto, Eddie Alvarez, Lyman Good and Hector Lombard.
Tickets for the Season 2 premiere will go on sale February 5, 2010 and will be available at Ticketmaster.com.
As a fan of mixed martial arts, I admit I am a purist. I remember sitting down as a teenager with my dad and brother watching the very first UFC 1. I love the sport and catch as much action on television as I can. As I see it, the more successful promotions out there, the better for the MMA fan.
Joe Soto Is A Champion, Not A Prospect
So here’s my gripe.
All the supposed MMA fans and bloggers are out here cursing over not getting see the bouts they want to see. I’ve never seen this level of strife like this before online. We want Fedor vs Lesnar. We want BJ vs Aoki. Blah. Blah. Blah. There is a reason why we aren’t getting these fights. Because Dana White and Zuffa are blocking them from happening.
It is important to remember that the UFC is just a promotion, they are not a league. Their champions are actually paper champions, not real champions. Champions are crowned by sanctioning bodies, not the Don King of MMA. White has taken the purity of UFC 1 and turned the UFC into biggest sports entertainment rival to WWE.
What irks me most are bloggers and MMA columnists that push this drivel that a fighter can only earn his stripes by fighting under the Zuffa banner, either UFC or WEC. In a column I ran across yesterday on BleacherReport.com by correspondent Ken Foss, he pastes Bellator’s current champion Joe Soto as a prospect and that “Because Bellator has slumbered, Joe Soto’s stock has stagnated. Even so, he’s still arguably the top prospect at 145 pounds, and it’s only a matter of time before we see this 22-year-old beating up on WEC featherweights.”
BleacherReport’s Foss goes right for the jugular on Bellator, diminishing their accomplishments and asserting that Soto has made a mistake in fighting for them instead of WEC. As pointed out in a response comment to the story, Joe Soto was the highest paid featherweight fighter in the world in 2009. Needless to say, it impossible to be a prospect when you made more money than anyone else at your weight class.
Foss then tries to compare a salary paid to a failed NFL player to try and back up his point while sticking to his guns that Soto isn’t the best until he fights in WEC. Too bad that correlation makes no freaking sense at all since fighter pay is tied to success in the cage and NFL players get their first contract before they ever take the field and its based on their draft order.
It’s this kind of naivete that really hurts the sport. Bellator is one the bright spots in MMA. Guys like Foss, who hase probably never watched any of Bellator’s fight cards or attended one of their events are instantly experts that Bellator is bush league and piss all over it. In their minds, you are nothing until you kiss Dana White’s ring.
In my opinion, kudos to Joe Soto for controlling his fighting destiny and bucking the ranks. Bellator is primed for a great second season and Soto is the man to watch. And I’ll put my money down right now that next year, Foss will be eating his words, because money talks and bullshit walks. Bellator pays more and they will get the better fighters in the long run at featherweight.
Bellator keeps snagging some of the best independent fighters in the marketplace, today announcing the signing of undefeated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist Patricio Freire (12-0). Freire holds a black belt level grade, the highest degree a fighter can earn in Jiu-Jitsu. While relatively unknown in the USA, Freire is considered one of the world’s best Jiu-Jitsu fighters in the world.
Picture Courtesy of Sherdog.com
Freire is another in the long-line of great fighters produced at Brazil’s famed Chute Boxe Academy. As he prepares for his first fight outside of Brazil, Freire looks to follow in the footstep of other Chute products such as Wanderlei Silva, Shogun Rua and Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos. With 10 finishes in his 12 professional fights, Freire brings a style to Bellator that is fitting to the tournament format.
“In Bellator Season 1, Joe Soto came from nowhere to win our featherweight tournament and a six-figure check in just 90 days” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “I believe Patricio Pitbull has the chance to do the same thing in Season 2. While he may be undiscovered by most U.S. fans, I can tell you that he is the real deal. I encourage you to go to YouTube and check him out for yourself.”
Freire will compete in the featherweight and compete against previously announced signing of highly regarded prospects William Romero and Georgi Karakhaynan. The winner gets a crack at current champion Joe Soto and will earn one the highest payouts for a featherweight in the world in 2010.
“I have been waiting for the opportunity to make my international debut for a long time,” Pitbull, who speaks Portuguese, said through a translator. “Bellator has some outstanding featherweight fighters – particularly Joe Soto – and I am excited to have my chance to show America and the world what I can do in the cage.”
American fight fans will get their chance beginning April 8th, as Bellator kicks of Season 2. All fights for Season 2 will be aired live on Thursday nights on Fox Sports Network. Univision will air a Spanish-language replay and NBC will air a highlight package on Saturday nights.
Bellator made the second of its anticipated four fighter signing announcements today, bringing in undefeated Canadian fighter William Romero to join its featherweight tournament in April. Romero sports a 5-0 record and is coming off a highlight reel 17 second knockout victory over Guillaume Lamarche.
Bellator Inks Canadian MMA Star
Romero becomes the second fighter signed that will seek to gain a tournament victory for an automatic shot at current titleholder, undefeated Joe Soto (8-0). Bellator announced just two days ago the signing of former MISL soccer player and budding MMA star Georgi Karakhanyan (12-1-1). Rumors are also swirling that the remaining announcements for the featherweight division may include highly regarded fighters Eric Marriott (17-2) and Patricio Freire (12-0).
Romero was born in Canada but spent a large chunk of his childhood living in Ecuador, where his family traces its ancestry. At 17, he enlisted as an infantry soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces, became a paratrooper and served overseas in Bosnia. He was introduced to MMA by famed Canadian trainer Randy Grant. Once Romero left the military at the age of 25, he started fighting full time.
Romero said he’s relishing the opportunity to compete on an international stage. “I watched Season 1 of Bellator and I was very, very impressed,” Romero said. “The level of competition is just awesome. Now I’m hoping to make my mark and to show the world what people in Canada already know.”
“MMA fans north of the border know the name William Romero and now fans in the U.S. are going to have the chance to know it too,” said Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney. “We are excited to welcome him to our organization.”
Rebney has reason to be excited given how Romero dispatched his last opponent seen here on YouTube:
And those Canadian fans will be able to see Romero make his run at the title thanks to Bellator recent broadcasting deal. Bellator’s 24 fights during Seasons 2 and 3 will be distributed live in primetime on Thursday nights on FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates. The top moments from each week’s live events will then be condensed into an action-packed 30-minute highlight show, broadcast every Saturday night, late night, on NBC. A one-hour highlight show will air in Spanish on Telemundo every Saturday night from midnight to 1 a.m.
In an interview with the Vancover Sun, the UFC has vowed to take legal action against both the companies broadcasting the pay-per-view events illegally across the web as well as the individuals who knowingly are watching these broadcast to avoid paying fees associated with the event.
UFC Preparing Piracy Crackdown
Zuffa head and casino magnet Lorenzo Fertitta recently testified in front of the US House Judiciary Committee during a referendum on internet piracy of sporting events. Fertitta shared on the record that his company monitored internet activity and uncovered 271 illegal streams of UFC 106, which aired on November 21, 2009. The streams had generated over 140,000 viewers.
Sites such as these have proliferated the web. One of the more visible players in this space is Justin.TV. Most of website are hosted in foreign companies, making it difficult for broadcast to bring legal suit in countries where copyright infringement is given a pass. These companies utilize blog boards to post comments and links to their websites that will air the fight illegally.
(At BenchwarmersUnited.com, it is our policy to delete comments promoting these illegal practices and we can share that we deleted more that 150 comment post over the last 2 weeks leading up to UFC 108 promoting internet piracy)
UFC President Dana White told the Vancouver Sun, “It’s going to be a battle, man, but I’m ready to [expletive] fight. We’re gonna go after them, we’re gonna go after them hard, and we’re gonna hurt them. When people start going to jail, people will stop doing it.”
The timing of UFC announcement that they plan to crackdown on internet piracy is interesting to say the least. The organization is struggling to generate the quality fight cards it once did, its top stars are aging and the UFC has been hit heavily by the injury bug.
While UFC boasts PPV sales in the six-digit neighborhood, most industry observers believe the numbers fall quite short of these figures given that UFC refuses to allow a third-party audit their books. Following a head-to-head competition in September between the Mayweather/Marquez boxing match and UFC 103, Golden Boy Promotions President Rich Schaefer challenged UFC to an audit of PPV sales after Dana White said the UFC would outsell them that night. The UFC declined the invitation as rumors circled that sales were less than 20% of the boxing card. That night’s headliner was a “contender” fight between soon-to-be-retired Rich Franklin and previously-UFC-banished Vitor Belfort,
More concerning are the inroads being made by other organizations in obtaining television deals that offer fans MMA fights for free or at less substantial costs. Strikeforce has struck a deal with Showtime and CBS to air its events. Bellator scored a major deal with FoxSports Network, Univision and NBC. And Dream and Sengoku have deals with HDNet to air their events. Free mixed martial arts is proliferating the television cable box.
The once mighty UFC is facing strong competition like never before and it has found itself in the middle of a struggling economy where consumers will choose free MMA rather than paying $50 per event, especially when the pay-per-view cards don’t carry a title fight. The announcement of fighting piracy comes about shortly after what most industry observers deemed a lackluster event at UFC 108.
Is the timing a coincidence. We shall know more as 2010 plays out and UFC is stuck with a second-tier TV broadcasting arrangement with Spike TV.
Bellator Fighting Championships began filling its tournament brackets for the featherweight division with the signing of Georgi Karakhanyan. The announcement comes after four major signing in the welterweight division and rumors that top-rated Eric Marriott and Patricio Freire will join the featherweight division tournament.
Karakhanyan, a 24 year old Russian-born fighter, sports a 12-1-1 record since he began his MMA career in 2006. His only loss came by split decision to Chris David, and since rattled off seven straight wins against some top-quality competition. Karakhanyan brings forward a specialization in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that has helped him finish of 8 of his 12 victories by submission.
“With 12 wins and just one loss under his belt, Georgi is a proven winner” said Bjorn Rebney, founder and CEO of Bellator Fighting Championships. “He brings an explosive style to the cage that makes for great fights. We are excited to welcome Georgi to Bellator.” And Rebney should be excited given the highlight reel knockouts like the one featured below on YouTube.
Awaiting Karakhanyan after a victorious run in the Bellator Season 2 tournament is current undefeated champion Joe Soto (8-0) who rose from anonymity during the first season, knocking off former Elite XC champion Wilson Reis en route to the championship.
Bellator continues to roll with some very exciting signings that are priming it for an exciting follow-up season. Their focus on upcoming fighters is bringing a breathe of fresh air to the stale offerings being served up recently by other organizations.
Another year has come and gone with MMA broadening it fan base while moving closer to mainstream acceptance in the sports marketplace. UFC hosted it 100th major event, Strikeforce brought Fedor to CBS and Bellator came out of nowhere to deliver some of the best fights all year. It was a year of milestone and big fights.
Here are this year’s awards winners:
Fighter of The Year
Fighter Of The Year
Lyoto Machida (UFC)
2009 was the Year of The Dragon, as Machida laid claim to the title of best light heavyweight in the world. All he did was dispatch two previously undefeated fighters in Thiago Silva to earn a title and Rashad Evans to win the UFC championship belt. He then fought a tightly contested matchup versus former Pride champion Mauricio Rua and earned a controversial unanimous decision. Machida recently underwent surgery on his hand, but a rematch versus Rua is on the schedule for early 2010
Fight Of The Year
Donald Cerrone vs. Benson Henderson (WEC 43)
Unquestionably the best display of mixed martial arts skills in any fight this year amongst top-tier fighters. While other may point to Sanchez vs Guida or Melendez vs Thomson as their pick, those bouts were merely street fights in a cage. Albeit entertaining, they are not representative of true MMA skill sets. The Cerrone/Henderson was a back and forth war between the athlete (Henderson) and the technician (Cerrone). Henderson would be the aggressor and land his shots and get his takedown, then Cerrone would turn the tied with his great defense and submission moves. It was every MMA fans true delight to watch this match and most cannot wait for the rematch of this tightly contested fight.
Knockout of the Year – Dan Horbuckle vs Akihiro Gone (Sengoku)
This was a tough decision, as there were some fantastic knockouts in 2009. UFC’s Dan Henderson’s drilling of Michael Bisping was one of the best punches delivered in a long-time. Bellator’s Yahir Reyes’ spinning backfist of Estevan Payan rates high purely based on the sound of the crack of that hit. In the end, you gotta give the kudos to Dan Hornbuckle for his leg kick to the head of Akhiro Gono. Rarely do you see a guy knocked cold from a leg kick like the one delivered by Hornbuckle. When you watch the super slow motion replay of the kick, you really feel Gono’s pain.
Submission of The Year – Toby Imada vs. Jorge Masvidal (Bellator)
The was the easiest to pick, simply because MMA has never seen such a move applied in its history. Imada had everything thrown at him but the kitchen sink by Jorge Masvidal. Imada never quit and Masvidal let his cockiness supercede sensibility. Masvidal lifted Imada off the ground for a slam, and in the process got himself choked unconscious while standing on his feet. It wasn’t just the submission of the year, it was the greatness submission of all time.
Breakthrough Fighter Of The Year
Breakthrough Fighter
Jose Aldo (WEC)
Jose Aldo was a relative unknown to most MMA fans to start the year, just another featherweight in the stacked WEC. His body of work was questionable as well, having fought mostly guys that had many losses on their records. He caught the attention of fans with his highlight reel flying double-knee knockout of top contender Cub Swanson and followed that up with a dominant victory over WEC champion Mike Brown. While’s Aldo longevity at the top is still questioned by many industry observers, his rise in 2009 from a preliminary bout fighter to close out 2008 to champion.
Bellator Fighting Championship is raining down blows on it competitors in the MMA industry. The promotion today announced the high-profile signing of welterweight star Dan Hornbuckle. The comes on the heels of Bellator’s signings last week of former Olympian Ben Askren and Jacob McClintock.
Hornbuckle (19-2), a Sengoku veteran, joins Bellator’s roster of fighters on a four match win streak. His last taste of defeat came at the hands of UFC’s Mike Pyle, a fight which Hornbuckle dominated before getting caught in a surprise triangle choke. Hornbuckle bounced back from the defeat in style, dispatching cage veterans Akihiro Gono and Nick Thompson in back-to-back fights.
“With the addition of Hornbuckle to an already steady tournament field that includes Askren and McClintock, we’ve created a great tournament field in a division that many experts said was thin when it came to available talent,” Rebney said. “What we now have is the beginning of a 170 lbs. field that has created a feeling amongst hardcore MMA fans that April can’t come soon enough.”
The signings for Bellator are coming quick and steady. The quality of fighters that are being signed are clearly beyond the expectations of most industry observers. The tournament approach and flexibility of the promoters fighter control are appealing to the top independent fighters that have chosen to pass on the UFC. Bellator’s welterweight division, perhaps its weakest in Season 1, is panning out to be the most competitive right now for Season 2.
Needless to say, Rebney stole the words right out of my mouth. I can’t wait for Season 2 to get here soon enough.
UFC 107 has come and gone, finalizing a less than exciting year for the leading mixed martial arts promotion. Racked with injuries, fighter defections, controversial results and upstart promotional competition from Strikeforce and Bellator, the year couldn’t have ended sooner for Zuffa and its President Dana White. UFC enters 2010 in a very weird position and last night’s awful mismatch between BJ Penn and Diego Sanchez personifies the problem.
The UFC, outside of its Light Heavyweight division really doesn’t have one marketable championship fight any time in the near future. Its champions BJ Penn, George St. Pierre, Anderson Silva and Brock Lesnar really don’t have any competitive fights on the horizon. These are the headline fighters of the organization and the UFC basically has nobody of quality for them to fight.
BJ Penn’s destruction of Diego Sanchez last night was the prime example. Dana White gave us the Vince McMahon sale that Diego Sanchez was the unquestioned second best lightweight fighter in the world and that Penn was going to get his first real test. Sanchez told us he was going to storm across the cage, attack Penn like nobody has before and take him down to the mat for a beating.
None of this transpired.
Instead, Penn manhandled Sanchez like a rag doll and displayed just how weak the talent level is in the UFC at lightweight. Sanchez, the former TUF 1 Champion, displayed no real martial arts skills. His fighting approach that got his the championhsip fight invite was to bullrush, takedown and pound. Last night, the talented Penn nullified these basic skills, fended off every weak takedown attempt and handed out one of the most brutal beatings ever seen in the cage. So if Sanchez really was #2 as Dana White told us, Penn is out of competitors to fight under the UFC banner.
This leads us to the problem with the UFC…its refusal to cross promote. What killed boxing were promoters that overprotected their fighters, controlled the matchups and didn’t deliver the fights people demanded to see. Multiple title holders from different organizations that were not making the fights to protect and hold their crowns. Dana White is displaying his Napoleanistic complex and is dooming the sport in front of our eyes.
Fans are calling for the UFC to sign new top lightweight fighters. The bloom is off the rose. The fans will only drink so much kool-aid. People have figured out that they are not being served shinola now.
Every forum board last night online had discussion threads discussing what fight matchups would look like for Penn with all the great lightweights that are not fighting at UFC. Even commentator Joe Rogan called for it during the broadcast, something I am sure he will get admonished for by Zuffa. The UFC can make these matchups and they don’t have to sign anybody.
Penn is in the driver seat now to help take MMA mainstream. He can push UFC to start cross-promoting to make the biggest fights for him or threaten to bolt to another promotion that will do so. He has reached the point in his career where he controls his destiny, not the UFC.
The fights that matter for Penn which hold the greatest monetary take for him reside with fighters in other organizations. The fans don’t want to see him maul another second-rate UFC fighter. They want to see him fight Dream’s Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri or Joachim Hansen. They want to see him square off against Bellator’s Eddie Alvarez or Jorge Masvidal. Or perhaps throw him in the cage with Sengoku’s Mizuto Hirota. These are the fights that fans want to see, not matchups against an overrated 10 loss fighter like Joe Stevenson or a wrestler with no martial arts skills like Gray Maynard.
As this year comes to end, UFC needs to make some big decisions on how it runs its business and its impact on the sport as a whole. The WWE coattails that have been ridden thus far need to be cut and the UFC needs to recognize it is a promotion, not a league or “sports entertainment”. The sooner this happens the better.
