Bellator MMA * General News Thread

[Egg Shen]

fuck, another cursed card. That's 4 main card fighters in about a week.

[Egg Shen]

well i skipped through the main card because it was full of bumped up prelims but the main event was certainly worth the time.

Mousasi is very lucky to have came away with the win. I scored it for Shlemenko, i'd give the 2nd round to him based on damage and takedown defence, Mousasi ended the round well so it was probably enough the sway the judges but all in all i think this was a bit of a robbery. The busted eye changed everything, Mousasi was tentative after that. The first time i think ive ever seen Mousasi appear flustered in a fight to the point where we he was flopping to his back to avoid damage. I assume it's a broken orbital bone, nasty shit.

[kev2050]

If you get chance, I'd certainly recommend going back and watching Heather Hardy vs Kristina Williams. 

For 2 fighters where it was one's pro debut, and the other having just one fight (which she won), and after watching the abomination that was the first womens fight on the main card earlier on,  expectations were low. 

But they both came out game for a fight. Hardy has had plenty of boxing experience, and looked decent in her debut, I thought Hardy would run through her a bit. 

Williams landed some of the most brutal shots I've seen in a womens fight, and credit to Hardy, she took it and kept going, but she was a mess! She walked away with a couple of black eyes, a broken nose, and 9 stitches. 

[Egg Shen]

i wanted to watch it but had the fight spoiled because someone sent me a picture of Hardy bloodelied up before i watched it.

[ColinBollocks]

Same.

I noticed Hardy was getting quite a bit of "phwoar"-type attention leading into this - so much so, it's one of the very few times I've ever discussed anything Bellator at work. In terms on that part of marketing, it couldn't have gone much worse for Hardy.

"(S)he ain't pretty no more".

[Egg Shen]

Hardy had a rough debut too, she won but she got busted up.

Hardy is one of the few women coming in that interests me though, i genuinely could care less about 90% of them including the upcoming Flyweight title fight Bellator announced. I really feel like the ship has sailed on women's MMA. It feels like womens boxing now where the novelty factor has worn off, the stars have left and now we're left watching a lower quality version of mens MMA, some of it is just horrid to watch.

[ColinBollocks]

There is definitely a lack of star power and proper feuds. It's another reason to miss Rousey. Not only because she was, for a moment, pop culture, but her mental illness usually meant she couldn't help but make things personal and heated with her opponent.

I enjoy the high-end women's fights. Very few fighters regularly impress me like J Double, for example. It can get a little rough the deeper down you go, but it can't be denied how fast the women's divisions have evolved and improved since Rousey was on an armbar mission in Strikeforce.

The more Sheva and Joanna level athletes give MMA a try, the better it will get.

[Carbomb]

Yeah, I can't say I agree with the "ship has sailed" argument. As a sport it's not going anywhere, and, like other sports, it's constantly evolving. It's still in its nascent stages, and there's always a turn-over of talent in any sport, so I think we'll eventually see better fighters and personalities equal to Rousey at some point. As ColBol said, as we see more and more high-level women in other martial arts/combat sports turning their hands to MMA as it becomes an increasingly viable career option, we'll see a rise in the level of quality in the sport, and it shouldn't be long before we see the MMA "purebreds" coming in too.

[Egg Shen]

we probably will Carbomb, but women's MMA is never gonna get to anywhere near the level of the men in terms of standard or involvement.

Its the same with womens boxing now, you have a load of female boxers but the top few are so far more advanced than the others its almost unfair.

[Dead Mike]

Dana said something interesting about womens MMA on the last episode of TUF, saying it's the biggest female sport in the US & the best opportunity for female athletes to make a financially successful career (or words to that effect with lots of bleeps). I hadn't thought of it like that before but I know the WNBA doesn't do much & I'd guess that the pay in women's tennis falls significantly once you get past the Williams sisters.

[Carbomb]

I remember reading somewhere that women's tennis is actually very competitive with men's tennis in terms of pay, I think it might even be equal at certain competitions (it certainly is at Wimbledon); something to do with the men's game being dominated by power players to the point where people find the style boring, whereas women's tennis in the larger part relies predominantly on technique, which makes for better viewing. I'll have to try and find the article.

Edited October 24, 2017 by Carbomb

[ColinBollocks]

Dead Mike does bring up a good point, in that ability v ability / pay v pay, how many women sports are on par with the male version? It's very rare to find something as high level and "fair" as women's MMA - UFC fighters are, of course, very much underpaid, but if you make yourself into a proper draw you'll get the same coin as the male equivalent.

Anyway, it's hard to find a comparison for it, because, for the most part, MMA fans have been very receptive to the female fights. You don't find that in football, basketball, boxing or a long list of mainstream well established sports, where the women are quite clearly seen and treated as a fringe part of their sport. Tennis is maybe the only exception.

Edited October 24, 2017 by ColinBollocks

[Carbomb]

Oh yeah, certainly - most women's sports are definitely not as well paid as the male equivalent, but I think a big part of that is down to the lack of promotion, provision of infrastructure, training, and so on, that women's sports have received throughout the entire history of organised, professional sports. Tennis is the best-performing out of all of them, because it's clearly had the most exposure, and it had a cultural history of being seen as a sport "appropriate" for women back in less enlightened days, so it's had a head start. I don't think it'll be long before football gets there, and MMA close behind, especially with the influence Rousey had, like her or hate her.

[Egg Shen]

I'd add Athletics to that list.

There's not a lot of sporting events where women can get intergrated with the men's, athletics is one, tennis is another but most sports don't really allow for the two to be mixed, usually female sports are kept seperate events. MMA and boxing are unique in that it allows each individual fight to be different. If there's that big a market for female MMA though my personal preference would be to keep both seperate though and have a men's UFC and a female UFC (Invicta but with everyone involved). I love the fact that females compete and it's great if they can make financially rewarding careers out of it then great, i personally don't want to watch.

[Cousin Jim Bob]

1 hour ago, Dead Mike said:

Dana said something interesting about womens MMA on the last episode of TUF, saying it's the biggest female sport in the US & the best opportunity for female athletes to make a financially successful career (or words to that effect with lots of bleeps). I hadn't thought of it like that before but I know the WNBA doesn't do much & I'd guess that the pay in women's tennis falls significantly once you get past the Williams sisters.

Dana is talking bollocks again there. Womens MMA is nowhere near womens tennis.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTA_Tour_records#WTA_career_prize_money_leaders

 

Even past the Williams sisters you have a bunch of active players with over $10 million in career earnings. Thats not even taking into account sponsorships and endorsements which are far bigger.