The Book on Bellator and the Future Business of MMA

By: Brian Churchin

You can argue that there are 5 major professional sports in the United States right now. In a perceived order of popularity (with an honest attempt to be an unbiased fan), those sports are football, basketball, baseball, mixed martial arts, and ice hockey. I only religiously watch two of them, but I can comfortably say that this is probably pretty close to accurate.

Let’s now play a little game of “One of these things does not belong.”

The NFL has NCAA football, and the NFL Draft. Teams have practice squads with athletes on the cusp of success.

The NBA has NCAA basketball, the D-league, and the NBA Draft.

MLB has NCAA baseball, and a draft that allows entry into A, AA, and AAA affiliate minor league programs.

The NHL has NCAA hockey and a farm system very similar to baseball.

The UFC has…The Ultimate Fighter? The UFC needs a farm system.

Right now there are mixed martial arts organizations across the country and around the world, but when one of those organizations pulls an amazing fighter from the weeds, there are only a few logical steps for that fighter. A small organization owner finds a talented, marketable fighter with personality knowing that the fighter’s whole goal is to leave them in the dust at the first sign of a contract offer from Zuffa or Bellator. This leaves the smaller promotions constantly under the threat of losing any kind of draw resulting from any type of consistency in fan base-fighter connection.

Zuffa needs to buy Bellator, keep the concept of the tournament and rather than offer the winners of each tournament a Bellator title shot, allow them a shot at getting a contract with either the UFC or Strikeforce.
What if making your way to the Final 4 of a 32 fighter tournament got your name into a select pool of fighters, and every year, there was a UFC/Strikeforce draft?

A televised event in which 20 of the 28 qualifying fighters (4 each from the 7 weight classes represented in the UFC) are drafted to either the UFC or Strikeforce would be the one piece that the UFC is missing from their repertoire that the other big boys already have. It would add a dimension to Mixed Martial Arts that is desperately needed to add a level of validity to it as one of the “Big 4”.

Imagine the conversations that would be spawned. “Who’s gonna go #1?” “Will the UFC go after welterweights this year?” “What if Strikeforce takes all of the heavyweights?” “If the UFC takes all bantamweights, who will they drop from the roster?”

This makes every fighter in Bellator marketable. This puts every fighter in the UFC and Strikeforce on their toes and on top of their game, not just to win but to win convincingly and excitingly. New blood makes its way in to the division and the company. New fighters *that fans already know* show up in the octagon. Don’t want a re-match with GSP and John Fitch? No worries, there’s an up and comer from Bellator that might just be the answer to another boring fight.

So Dana, Fertittas, Coker, listen up. There are some very intelligent minds back there making matches and determining how fast to bring a fighter up, here’s your answer. Buy Bellator, make it the farm system for the big leagues of MMA. Then, have a draft. Think AFC vs NFC…but picture UFC vs Strikeforce. Make your fighters known to your fans before they ever step into an octagonal (or hexagonal) ring.

This could also open up a Superbowl of fights every year. This will foster pride in each promotion, the ability to test new ideas on how to promote an event and build up new fighters in ways that aren’t currently possible. And, with the new announcement of fighters being insured, this will allow a higher number of well known fighters to be ready to make an appearance at the drop of a hat.

Buy Bellator. Make it a farm system. Take this whole thing to the next level. I just makes sense.

Book it.

Brian Churchin created his series "The Book On..." exclusively for MMANonstop.com. Follow him at twitter.com/bchurchin.