Bellator Staff Dropped The Ball (No Spoilers)

by mmafiend on Apr 4, 2009 9:06 PM EDT Comment 26 comments

This has nothing to do with the fights, but actually how Bellator's staff seemed to have no clue what they were doing. From a piece by Paul Sava:

The first thing I noticed leading up to the event is that it seemed like no one at the Bellator offices ever had a clue as to what they were doing. A prime example of this is the weigh ins. I made a call to their offices to try and find out the time and location of the weigh ins and was told they would have to get back to me. They took my information, but never returned the call and I was forced to show up on a whim hoping the weigh ins would be somewhere in the casino. Once I arrived at the weigh ins I realized that no one within the company knew what they were doing as it was one giant cluster fuck.

A day after the disaster that was the weigh ins was the show, but things didn’t get any better from there. I was coming to the show with the assumption that I had press credentials and a spot on press row waiting for me, but that was not the case. I assumed this because Bellator’s PR department confirmed it for me on 2 different occasions, but when I arrived I was given nothing but a general admission ticket(a Shitty One at That) and told there was nothing they could do. I wasn’t the only person in the media who was given the shaft like this either as there were at least 10 other people who had the same thing happen. Once again confirming that the people in charge were clueless.

....

They had strobe lights constantly going off, music playing almost the whole time (Including during the rounds of each fight) as well as manufactured applause that they pumped through the speakers during fighters walk ins. I assure that they couldn’t have had that much applause because there were probably less than a thousand people in the arena. Add that to the fact that they did no tale of the tape and seemed to only do post fight interviews when they wanted and it equals a pretty sloppy show for the in house crowd.

All In all, it was a pretty horrible way to debut a promotion.

From The MMA Fiend

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

3 recs | Comment 26 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Yikes...

not much else I can say about that. I used to cover the IFL shows in the CHicago area live and they were GREAT with the media and had their shit together. Sad to hear that Bellator didn’t have it together…

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

http://CurseOfRonKarkovice.blogspot.com/

by Brent Brookhouse on Apr 4, 2009 9:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

No live Blog? :(

Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."

by xFenixKnightx on Apr 4, 2009 9:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It was last night

Editor-in-chief of MMA-Analyst.com

by Leland Roling on Apr 4, 2009 9:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Seriously?

How?

Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."

by xFenixKnightx on Apr 4, 2009 9:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It was live last night, but they air it on tape delay on ESPN Deportes

Editor-in-chief of MMA-Analyst.com

by Leland Roling on Apr 4, 2009 9:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I thought no video was released until right now…

Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."

by xFenixKnightx on Apr 4, 2009 9:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Some press was there to cover it. There are live PBP on the Internet from last night, so people know the results.

Editor-in-chief of MMA-Analyst.com

by Leland Roling on Apr 4, 2009 9:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah...

I’m watching it but decided personally I didn’t want to live blog it. I’m handling the WEC tomorrow, chris is doing DREAM overnight…etc. Combine that with the fact that the results are already “out there” (although I’ve avoided them successfully) and we just didn’t liveblog

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

http://CurseOfRonKarkovice.blogspot.com/

by Brent Brookhouse on Apr 4, 2009 10:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Same, no spoilers for me either. Pretty good fights so far.

Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."

by xFenixKnightx on Apr 4, 2009 10:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Just wish the J Anik telecast was on at the same time on the net.

Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."

by xFenixKnightx on Apr 4, 2009 10:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I see...

Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."

by xFenixKnightx on Apr 4, 2009 9:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wow

That sucks

Music during the rounds, LOL

Editor-in-chief of MMA-Analyst.com

by Leland Roling on Apr 4, 2009 9:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Good first scrap, yeah the music is more for the spanish audience.

Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."

by xFenixKnightx on Apr 4, 2009 9:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I hate to hear that.

by Wookalarman on Apr 4, 2009 9:25 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Eddie Alvarez

- got dropped in that fight, good thing he’s got a ridiculously tough chin.
- really shouldn’t do that backflip off the cage, scares the shit out of me.
- was funny when he tried to speak Spanish, “my opponent was… muy cansado?”

by Chris Nelson on Apr 4, 2009 10:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

yeah...

when he got dropped I went “OH SHIT!” but he recovered nicely. He has a lot of holes in his game though, not to take anything away from him…dude is GOOD…but still, he has some areas that have always made me hesitate to call him a top 5 guy right now.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

http://CurseOfRonKarkovice.blogspot.com/

by Brent Brookhouse on Apr 4, 2009 11:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

OH!

and the backflip off the cage is STUPID. That’s just asking for a blown up knee.

Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.

http://CurseOfRonKarkovice.blogspot.com/

by Brent Brookhouse on Apr 4, 2009 11:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Saying! I know it’s his trademark or whatever, but for a guy coming off a knee injury…

by Chris Nelson on Apr 4, 2009 11:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

by thepenismightier on Apr 5, 2009 12:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wow thats classic

by Rensokuken on Apr 6, 2009 4:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also...

I was planning on doing a liveblog from the second Bellator show at Mohegan Sun next Friday, but from the sound of things it may not be possible. I’ve been trying to find out for the better part of a month whether or not they’ll have a press row setup to accommodate laptops, to no avail. While I’d expect a brand new promotion to run a little bumpy at first, I’ve got to second Mr. Sava’s assertion that Bellator doesn’t really seem to have their game tight just yet, which is a shame because the fighters on the first card certainly did their part.

by Chris Nelson on Apr 4, 2009 10:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Great fights, and yeah lol at Eddies Spanish. “Mi espanol es muy mal” lolwut?

It might have been bumpy for its first show but it looked good on the telecast.

Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, When Matt and his brother Mark Hughes were growing up, they would pound each other behind the barn."

by xFenixKnightx on Apr 4, 2009 10:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

they should have internet capability for you

They did for this one for the people on press row, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t do the same for the next one.

But their lack of communication is very frustrating.

by mmafiend on Apr 4, 2009 11:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm not surprised

How long have they been putting together a roster? Also, who would of known without fans posts on blogs like these reporting the signings because of the lack of official promoting.

Any press conferences, announcements, promotional events to get out the word?

My biggest peeve . . . if you are going to put together an MMA promotion why the Spanish wing of ESPN? Huh, could you be any further from MMA’s already built in audience? Maybe this could be a niche project for UFC, instead it’s all the eggs in a very suspect basket.

by bignerd on Apr 6, 2009 1:45 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I think they were looking for that niche market where they could slide in without worrying about direct competition but yea their promotional work was pretty lackluster. Trying to build an new niche market to fit into takes more promotional work not less, they have to not only build a promotion they have to build their own market.

by who me on Apr 6, 2009 2:53 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs