Someone at Bellator Understands Media 101
by Luke Thomas on Jan 17, 2010 1:30 PM EST
in MMA News
59 comments
First, I think it needs to be said that the fine people at Bellator are clever, clever chaps. The strategy of slowly piecing together their tournaments, and then methodically leaking the signings out is brilliant. The MMA news cycle has constant, dizzying turnover, and with the debut of their second cycle in April, it would be ridiculous to expect anyone to care about their product in the interim without proper impetus. By having a new fighter announced every couple of days, Bellator keeps the online community running to YouTube regularly to do some leisurely research, and getting even more excited for their forthcoming tournaments.
Knowledge of how media operates and effectively implementing strategy to build anticipation over prolonged periods of time for hugely important events is not something everyone can capably do. And with Bellator, each iteration of news releases doesn't just remind us of one event: they also raise the ante. Someone or several people over at Bellator have clear media savvy as evidenced not just by this nicely timed drip of news, but also by employing new media channels of distribution to garner attention for highlights from epic finishes in Imada vs. Masvidal or Reyes vs. Payan. If it appears these practices are or should be obvious, that's only a testament to how simple and second nature Bellator is making them look.
Organizations and properly capitalized investors know enough best practices in 2010 to produce quality MMA on fight night, but how many have demonstrated enough skills in the months, weeks and days leading up to those events to properly leverage the media to maximum benefit? Very, very few. And that can make all the difference.
Well done, Bellator. You've got our attention. Let's see what you can do.
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Maybe this is the same thing Strikeforce is doing, cleverly leaking out their matchups and them having them cancelled and rescheduled the entire month leading up to the event.
by ufc4 on Jan 17, 2010 1:36 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I don’t know, they’ll still need to capture more interest somehow. I never watched anything from Season 1, save the Imada submission that was replayed on MMA Live, and have no interest in watch Season 2. It’s really the same as the IFL. Does everyone remember when IFL was hyping up certain fighters as ‘elite’ because they were beating everyone in the league? Now look at them all. Same things goes at Bellator- a couple good fighters get to crush inexperienced fighters to create a perception of greatness.
That couldn’t be a more inaccurate description. You’ve said yourself that you don’t watch it, so how would you know? Sure, you read that Eddie Alvarez, a “good fighter”, won a tournament. Did you watch any of the fights? No. By your definition, Lyman Good wouldn’t have been considered a “good fighter”, yet he managed to win his tourney, beating a couple of really good guys to do it.
Watch stuff before you comment on it. The IFL is nothing like Bellator.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
by Beer Monster on Jan 17, 2010 2:17 PM EST up reply actions 5 recs
This seasons group of welterweights looks like the greatest TUF cast ever assembled.
by nottheface on Jan 17, 2010 2:21 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Exactly. I can’t wait to see how it plays out. The FW tourney is right up there too so far.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
by Beer Monster on Jan 17, 2010 2:23 PM EST up reply actions
I think they are one step above that.
TUFers need several deliberate builder fights before relevancy. The some of the guys in this Bellator tourney have some real serious experience, and are a few fights away from being noteworthy in their own right. The winner of this tourney vs. winner of Diaz/Zaromskis (or, for timeliness, Diaz/Zaromskis vs. Riggs/Heiron) is a sick hypothetical fight.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
I agree
That’s why I said " greatest TUF cast ever assembled".
by nottheface on Jan 17, 2010 4:32 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Ok...
I just don’t see the TUF comparison. None of these guys are there to feature personalities like Leben, War Machine, Junie, or Diaz. Is it just that there is a tournament format? Am I missing something?
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
That is why it would be the greatest TUF ever
I would love it if the UFC focused more on talent than personality. If they did the TUF contestants would look like what Bellator’s got lined up (for gawds’ sake they cut Tyron Woodley from TUF for being too clean cut).
Of course, I am also the type of guy who is more excited to see “Crazy Heart” or “Un prophète” over “Avatar” so probably best not to base their programming decisions on me.
by nottheface on Jan 17, 2010 8:36 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Ok, I think we are talking past each other a little bit.
What makes this “the greatest TUF ever” over the DREAM FW GP? I’m confused about where you see a connection to TUF, other than it is a tournament format. It just seems so tangential. Am I missing something, or is this one of those transitions that makes perfect sense in your own head but other people just don’t get?
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
pdl, start paying attention to my persistently incoherent replies
The assembled talent would be great for any promotion, but when I write that it looks like “the greatest TUF cast ever assembled” I am speaking to the fact that this what a great TUF cast should look like: a bunch of great up-and-coming prospects without a care for however boring their personalities may be.
I got to say I am disappointed in your inability to decipher my strange ramblings.
Got it now, and I apologize for my prior lack of understanding.
From now on, I’ll copy-paste your posts into Google Languages (Nonsense to English) before attempting a reply!
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
And think the progression should be:
the winner of this seasons Bellator tournament vs Lyman Good
vs
winner of Diaz/Zaromskis vs winner of Hieron/Riggs
and finally Tyron Woodley will probably take whomever’s standing at the end.
by nottheface on Jan 17, 2010 4:45 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Eddie Alvarez dominated his division like he was supposed to. A top 5 LW should not be fighting the Greg Loughrans and the Eric Reynolds of the world. Showcase fights like that are a waste of time, and the only reason people even care in the slightest is because the “tournament” label. Yea Lyman Good won hsi tournmanet – so what? He’s 10-0 prospect who went through either other prospects or C-level fighters. Don’t ask people to elevate him to super-god status because he won a Bellator season. That’s the issue – no casual fan is going to watch until they get more quality fighters. And quality is not determined by the W/L record as Bellator loves to scoop up guys with good records and parade them around. I’m surprised they’re not actively trying to sign Jason Reinhardt.
by CrowCrucifix on Jan 17, 2010 3:21 PM EST up reply actions
Wow, you actually managed to top the ignorance of your first post. Well done.
There’s no point in even typing out a response. You self-admittedly watched about 15 seconds of the entire season. Your opinion has very little credibility. You don’t speak for the casual fan.
I do have one question though…what the hell is a “super-god”?
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
by Beer Monster on Jan 17, 2010 3:29 PM EST up reply actions
People are elevating Lyman Good to super-god status? The most I’ve heard about him since the Bellator tourney is that he’s a good prospect…which is a lot more than I heard before the tourney.
And as long as they’re concentrating on the up-and-comers I don’t think they’re going to get a lot of casuals to tune in…and I think they know this. This is pretty much aimed at us for the most part.
If Derek Jeter clubbed a baby seal on earth day while wearing a mink coat and crocodile skin boots while burning tires on an iceberg, the reaction would be "Its OK Derek, you’re a Yankee." -First mammal to wear pants
1) A bunch of those ex-IFL guys have done pretty well in UFC. Haven’t you heard?
2) Bellator is not the same as IFL. M-1 Challenge is the closest analogue in terms of format.
3) Ignorance is bliss eh?
by smoogy2 on Jan 17, 2010 2:42 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
They’ve got Alvarez who is legitimately a top tier LW. They’ve got a ton of prospects…who they’ve been selling as prospects. They’ve got Lombard who may end up being a legit fighter.
They’re similar to the IFL in that they’ve got some guys you’re going to see in the UFC down the road. But they’re much better than the IFL in that the prospects have a lot more upside. The IFL prospects were never guys who you thought may end up being a major force down the road. Almost the entire WW division for Bellator are guys that could be top shelf in another couple years.
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MMA Editor - SBNation.com
by Brent Brookhouse on Jan 17, 2010 2:44 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Wagnney was the only IFL guy I thought was superstar material.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
by Beer Monster on Jan 17, 2010 2:46 PM EST up reply actions
True...
I forgot about him. He seemed like he could be elite. And I’m not willing to write him off based on getting caught.
Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
MMA Editor - SBNation.com
by Brent Brookhouse on Jan 17, 2010 2:49 PM EST up reply actions
Neither am I, considering he was hurt and should have pulled out of the Semerzier fight long before it ever happened.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
by Beer Monster on Jan 17, 2010 2:53 PM EST up reply actions
To be clear, I know Wagnney stated that he was hurt in the fight itself, but the general consensus seems to be that he had a long-lingering rib injury before the fight.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
by Beer Monster on Jan 17, 2010 2:56 PM EST up reply actions
They really have done a good job of coming back from what seemed like the dead after the long gap between the end of last season, to nothingness, to “we have a tv deal but we’re not talking” to now. hopefully for them the fights this year can deliver like they did last year, and hopefully for the fighters there’s less dead time in between “seasons” and they can figure out how to keep people that lose involved/working.
David Letterman was making fun of “Last Call With Carson Daly” on his show this week. He made the point that being on TV at 2am is basically the same as not being on TV at all. So that is their NBC deal.
And their FSN deal isn’t very good as proven by various organizations.
Their talent level is much better this year. And I’m sure in 2 or 3 years we will look back this season as having many of the future stars of the sport. But those fighters are likely to be in the UFC and Bellator is likely to be out of business.
Yea, because there’s not going to be another litter of up-and-comers to stage another tournament with. There’s not going to be other weight classes to exploit (they’re only going with WW and FW this time around). Being a springboard for fighters isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In addition, the tourney winners are contracted for a while afterwards (like Alvarez fighting the winner of this tourney, etc). Being on at 2am didn’t hurt Strikeforce at all, plus they’re not aiming at competing with the UFC viewers-wise, they’re just getting their product out there…
I could go on all day about how narrow-minded this post is.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
by Beer Monster on Jan 17, 2010 3:03 PM EST up reply actions
I didn't realize it until I read this post
but it looks like Bellator is practically the perfect American feeder organization that we’ve all spoken about. They have TV deals so us hardcores get to see all the up and comers we want. The tournament format is a perfect way to build a fighters reputation and markets itself, with a guarantee that at least one guy will come out looking good. The pay scale is well designed to reward talent handsomely enough to pay their bills and train full time. Best of all, they aren’t competing with UFC, Strikeforce, or WEC. It seems like they used the first season to exploit a Hispanic audience for viewership, and then shift to a more long term and proven strategy. I’m now tentatively optimistic about their future, when before this I was possibly their most outspoken critic/doom forecaster on BE.
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
by pdl on Jan 17, 2010 3:23 PM EST up reply actions 10 recs
Yeah, I was thinking about that the other day. UFC could acquire Bellator, and both their developmental needs and Latino marketing needs can be met. Plus, with their TV deals, Bellator is positioned to cock block other MMA organizations, while simultaneously keeping NBC warm until Ebersol gets antsy, and signs that UFC deal.
Perhaps
Conan O’Brien can replace Mike Goldberg.
"Talk all the shit you want now!
by MostDiabolicalHater on Jan 17, 2010 3:48 PM EST up reply actions
UFC wouldn’t need to acquire them they could just launch their own series of tournament I.e. TUF without the stupidity. I always thought this something they should have done with the WEC after they folded the bantam and feather divisions into the UFC.
by nottheface on Jan 17, 2010 4:39 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
This is one time I think a co-promotion deal between Bellator and Strikeforce makes perfect sense and is something I hope they look into.
by nottheface on Jan 17, 2010 4:36 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Only one problem about them being the “perfect American feeder organization”. Their contracts don’t let the tournament winners out of the organization to test themselves in other companies. They are stuck there for many fights.
The enter point of a feeder organization is to get the exposure and experience and then move on. Bellator doesn’t allow for this.
Not to mention it is much more practical for the UFC to do an in-house feeder organization then rely on somebody else to do it for them. Kind of surprised your post has 9 rec’d at this point considering the glaring holes in the logic.
The hell are you talking about?
Eddie Alvarez fought at DREAM.12 five months after he won the Bellator LW Tourney.
Walking the line between intelligence and ignorance since 1985
@deowade
Bellator had full veto power on any of the fights taken by their champions. That’s what I’m talking about. And Lombard, Soto, and Alvarez all fought guys they were heavily favored against.
It's not Eddie's fault
that he’s favored against the DEEP champion who was on a 10 fight win streak, including one over . He’s the favorite against every LW in any organization other than BJ, Aoki, and Kenny. Alvarez’s presence in the Bellator tourney only happened because they pay was easily the best he would get and he needed fights to rebound from the Aoki loss.
And I didn’t say Bellator would be the new TUF. The winner doesn’t have to automatically get in to the UFC with his cut and dry “six figure” contract. They don’t have to go the to UFC at all, Strikeforce and Dream still exist last time I checked. Bellator can be a place to develop talent and pit prospects against each other. Giving a 20-23 year old a place to season themselves for 3-6 fights while gaining exposure to the core is the next step for MMA’s growth.
Long story short, contracts expire eventually, fighters move around. Are you just trying to be negative for the sake of negativity and poor logic?
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
Have you seen the Bellator contracts? The championship clauses make UFC’s pale in comparison. So the idea that they expire is a false one… At least for their champions.
Have you seen Bellator's contracts?
Can you show me them, please?
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
Actually they are supposedly very stringent:
http://mmapayout.com/2009/03/inside-the-bellator-contract/
Which is why a partnership with StrikeForce is so perfectly logical for all parties that no one will do it.
What channel do they show Bellator on?
Confucius says:
"Baseball is wrong: man with four balls cannot walk."
It used to be on ESPN deportes but now it will be on NBC and Telemundo at midnight(the old strikeforce timeslot)
2nd season live on FSN
US broadcast details
Does anyone know if Bellator will be broadcasting shows in the UK?
TAG TEAM MMA - I shit you not. Worst idea EVER.
by snakecharmer1340 on Jan 17, 2010 6:37 PM EST reply actions
or just go to ZST
I mean, if you want to see it done right, to the limited extent that such a thing can be done right
It’s been around for a long time, it’s hardly new.
http://www.twitter.com/TB_Money
by Beer Monster on Jan 17, 2010 7:08 PM EST up reply actions
worse than XARM?
"The greatest enemy will hide in the last place you would ever look." - Revolver
by flyingkneetoface on Jan 18, 2010 2:17 AM EST up reply actions
Yep, but not as bad as Japan's crowning moment. Women's MMA Battle Royale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzld-IONGvI
Oddly enough, no tentacle monsters show up.
Walking the line between intelligence and ignorance since 1985
@deowade
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