I'm not going to accuse anyone in Bellator fixing fights, but there are a good amount of MMA fans out there that truly believe that Bjorn Rebney or someone in Bellator is paying off judges or fixing fights in some way.

I personally blame terrible judging for some of the outcomes in Bellator, but other MMA fans see something else. These MMA fans saw that Zoila Frausto (now Zoila Gurgel) beat both Jessica Aguilar and Megumi Fujii by split decision when the consensus is that she should have lost both of those fights. With Jay Hieron, many felt that he lost to Brent Weedman, and he defeated Rick Hawn in the Welterweight Final even though most MMA fans felt that Hieron should have lost both fights. Recently, Bellator Featherweight Champion Joe Warren fought Marcos Galvao in a three round, non-title Superfight, and Joe Warren won the fight although the consensus was the Warren should have clearly lost.

So what does Bellator have to gain by having Zoila Gurgel, Jay Hieron, and Joe Warren win their fights? With Joe Warren, no champion has lost in these non-title Superfights, so it would look bad to see one of their champions lose a non-title fight, and lower the credibility of the champion who lost. With Zoila Gurgel, depending on who you ask, she is an attractive female fighter who speaks English and has personality. She is a relatively marketable female champion, which would help their newly made 115 pound Womens Division. Finally, with Jay Hieron, he is a former UFC, Strikeforce, and many other MMA organization fighter that has some name recognition. Hieron vs Askren is more marketable and recognizable than Hawn vs Askren.

There is an obvious counterargument to this, and that is Roger Huerta. He lost to Pat Curran by unanimous decision, and Huerta is much more well-known and marketable than Curran. Oddly enough though, Pat Curran ended up winning a split decision against Toby Imada even though many MMA fans felt that Imada should have won the decision.

I want to point out once again that I do not feel that fight fixing is involved in these decision victories. However, these terrible judging decisions are only bringing down the credibility of Bellator. These decisions combined with who ends up winning simply puts a negative label and stigma with Bellator, which is something that a relatively young MMA organization does not need.