Bellator MMA was founded much later than UFC, a full decade and a half later, in fact. Bellator's main event, with Curran vs. Freire, is likely to go into the cage at around 10 p.m., roughly the same time as Michael Chiesa (11-1) vs. Joe Lauzon (23-10). To put things in perspective, if you look at a list of the most bought MMA PPVs ever, UFC holds the first 180+ spots on its own, before any other organization makes an appearance. Even when Bellator has its own fighter who becomes a champion, like Douglas Lima, a conversation about them being the best in the world doesn’t happen without seeing how they’d match up with UFC’s champion in the same weight class, think Kamaru Usman. The sport was still looked at human cockfighting, so Lorenzo Fertitta’s attorneys called him crazy for the purchase, but it would later prove to be genius. I’m not sure where the sport would be without UFC. If MMA were basketball, in many ways, the UFC would be the NBA. MMA news, interviews, pictures, videos and more since 1997. As much as Dana might not want to admit it, having Bellator around does a satisfactory job of keeping UFC on its toes and as much as both promotions grow in the coming years, more and more young fighter will pick Bellator (or PFL or ONE) as their homes, which should eventually lead to more of an even spread of the elite of the elite in MMA across multiple organisations across multiple continents. To kick off 2021, we’re opening up a new series: Writer vs. Anderson signed with Bellator in August after asking for and being granted his release from the UFC. This has always been Bellator’s main downfall from fans. The UFC had a MASSIVE pull on fighters, which usually meant that the UFC could negotiate pretty bad contracts for the fighters. BUT, Bellator is catching ground on the UFC in this aspect. Fighter’s walkouts are emphasized more in Bellator too, with competitors getting their own entrance videos as they walk down a ramp on their own, making the occasion feel more momentous. Senator Hawley finds new publisher after Capitol attack backlash So, that’s a brief intro to the UFC, let’s look at Bellator now. Watch the tier list and let us know how you would arrange the rankings. Bellator is nowhere near as old as the UFC. Making her fifth title defense, Hawaiian champ Macfarlane will headline Bellator 254 with the intention of making promotional history. etc. Mercenary McKee vs Darrion The Wolf Caldwell fight in Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut, United States on Nov 19, 2020. For one, Bellator uses a circular cage as opposed to the UFC’s famous octagon, which is arguably a better format for fighting. Bellator, a fellow American promotion, has always been second to the UFC in every weight class. Scott Coker , the Bellator president is a typical businessman; always very professional, rarely seen out of a shirt, and usually staying out of the limelight when it comes to news coverage. The UFC has had all the media attention that MMA tends to get from the general public. When UFC fighters enter negotiations, rare as they may be, to have Bellator ready to match offers is important for fighters’ pay. As painful as it may be to have two of the best fighters in the world in different organisations, it’s worth it if it’s better for the longevity of MMA. Bellator are still growing their fanbase, but they have a lot of popular fighters like Michael Page (MVP), Paul Daley (an ex-UFC fighter cut for throwing a late punch), Chael Sonnen (also ex-UFC), Chandler, the Pitbull brothers…. So that’s probably the biggest difference between the 2 promotions. Now, Bellator is a legitimate promotion which a lot of elite fighters sign for, even when they get offers from the UFC e.g. UFC has a PPV business model. 5 years ago, every fighter wanted to get to the UFC, for some fighters it was an ‘end goal’ like getting a world title belt. More rules were implemented into the fights and MMA developed into a serious sport that was watched by hundreds of thousands of eager viewers. Fighters regularly move from promotion to promotion. Writer vs. Bellator 252 - Pitbull vs. Carvalho pits Patricio Pitbull Freire vs Pedro The Game Carvalho fight in Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut, United States on Nov 12, 2020. Considering Joe Rogan works as a commentator for the UFC, and has been involved with the company since before it became popular, you can’t take his opinion objectively. This is due to the gigantic growth the UFC has had since its inception. The UFC was one of the first MMA promotions, holding its first event in 1993. The UFC is keen to keep themselves well above Bellator, and there are even rumours floating around about a voicemail message left between the Fertitta brothers and Dana White which mentioned squeezing Bellator until they collapse, but at this point it’s just conjecture and it could have just been a drunken joke. Fast forward to today and the UFC has over 15 million followers on Instagram and hosts regular events in huge stadiums around the world, like Madison Square Garden. Another difference in the UFC vs Bellator question is the characteristics of the promotions’ presidents. The event featured a Bellator Women's Featherweight World Championship bout between the champion Julia Budd and former Strikeforce, Invicta, and UFC champion Cris Cyborg.. Coker’s promotion also does not utilize any kind of ranking system, other than there being a champion in each weight class. Buy tickets, browse fighter stats, get fight results, stream live events, and watch full fight videos and highlights. Fighter - UFC Fight Island 7 It’s the fight before the fight — but thankfully, just with a keyboard, otherwise we’d lose badly. To this day, fans put Royce on MMA’s Mount Rushmore. Cross-promotional fights have happened in the past like Darrion Caldwell v Horiguchi (Bellator vs One) but none have ever happened between Bellator and the UFC (yet, although this could change VERY soon, maybe even pitting Ryan Bader vs Daniel Cormier). Just like it usually does when competition is present, rivalry has brewed here and there between UFC and Bellator, but the sustenance and growth of both individually is crucial. Bellator 254: MacFarlane vs Velasquez preview Bellator has truly made the most of a sour year, staging some of their most fun events to date and adding more talent to their roster. The Ultimate Fighting Championship and Bellator MMA have for long been competing for the position of the best fight promotion in the world. As much as UFC feels like the NBA, Bellator is not comfortable being some sort of G League. Details about Bellator 254: Macfarlane vs. Velasquez including fighter profiles, results, and analysis. He’s been a critical part of the ‘UFC circus’ which people love. The belief is that both the best and most popular fighters are there, so it’s incredibly hard to be considered one of the greats while fighting somewhere else. They created Zuffa, UFC’s parent entity. The UFC is an American company owned by William Morris Endeavour, and Dana White is the President of the UFC. Yoel Romero will reunite with Scott Coker under the Bellator banner. But on the other hand, it helps them avoid the problems UFC faces like fans appealing after Conor McGregor skips a bunch of contenders to get a title fight due to his stardom. The 2 presidents of these promotions are VERY different characters. Think Conor McGregor fights, think McGregor vs Mayweather, think Ronda Rousey etc. Like the article mentioned before, a lot of top MMA talent is coming over from the UFC to Bellator, which is helping to build their brand name, as these fighters’ fan bases come over to Bellator and become familiar with their set-up. There are even YouTube compilations of him going ‘crazy’ or entering in feuds with fighters, or even kicking off at what he perceived as bad MMA ref decisions. Can You Guess Who Owns These MMA Fighter Tattoos? In contrast, Bellator was founded in 2008, about 15 years later. Winning season 19 of The Ultimate Fighter in 2014, Anderson would go on to enjoy a 10-5 tenure inside the Octagon (14-5 overall). Dana isn’t afraid of speaking his mind to anyone and it gets him a lot of coverage in the MMA world, which in turn helps to build up the UFC. This is probably more down to the UFC having bigger budgets for fight promotion, and also having a much bigger fanbase, and it’s also down to the fighters self-promotion themselves. Having competed for both promotions, Corey Anderson leans towards his new home. Neither promotion can say it has all the best fighters. Even though Bellator is a distant second to UFC in more ways than one, competition is vital and a monopoly benefits no-one but UFC’s suits. This was shortly after the company held its first PPV and was clearly a shift towards a new direction. Bellator 238: Budd vs. Cyborg took place on January 25, 2020 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.The event aired live on DAZN.. Background. Since then, thanks to the signings of former UFC fighters like Rory MacDonald, Gegard Mousasi and Benson Henderson, Bellator has developed into the UFC’s biggest rival promotion bar none. Since then, Bellator has only gained fans and has continued to become a viable option outside of UFC for fans and fighters alike. Gegard Mousasi, Cris Cyborg, Rory MacDonald and some others too. Even though Bellator boasts its own stars and elite fighters, many of them (Gegard Mousasi, Cris Cyborg, Ryan Bader) are former UFC fighters, which only speaks to the organization’s power. The list includes Jan Blachowicz, Yoel Romero, Dominick Reyes, Anthony Johnson, Glover Teixeira, Ryan Bader, Aleksandar Rakic, Vadim Nemkov and Thiago Santos. Here, we’ll be looking at both organisations independently of each other but also looking at how they stack up and what that means for the sport. The UFC and Bellator promotions are arguably the two biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotions in the world. Just like UFC’s initial offering, it was a tournament that would play out over the following few events. Instead, both promotions have a completely different set of fighters who work under their contracts. The 2 presidents of these promotions are VERY different characters. When UFC makes decisions like taking away fighters’ in-cage sponsorships in favour of Reebok uniforms which see them making just a few thousand dollars a night as opposed to six or seven figures, having Bellator around is a necessity. Though UFC, the leading MMA organisation, often gets confused with the actual sport and practice of MMA, there are in fact multiple organisations worldwide. 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